Sonic Adventure 2 an STC adaptation
by Forgotten Muse
Summary: ARCHIVED
1. Shadows of the past

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 1.  
  
"Shadows of the Past"  
  
By T. Evans.  
  
Before I get on with the story, I'd like to explain a few things. Firstly, this is a series of unofficial fanfics so I've got to mention the copyright stuff. All the characters in this fan fiction are ( to their respective owners, etc. Secondly, this isn't going to be just a repetition of the game script. Because this story is based on Sonic the Comic, I have not kept strictly to the game's storyline and have included characters from STC and some of my own which aren't in the game. My email address is ThaliaRockChick@aol.com if you have any complaints, questions, whatever.  
  
* * * *  
  
(note for continuity- There are references to 'the Timeship Infinity' in this story, and Sonic & Super Sonic have been separated again-- this is explained in a fan comic I made a while back. Also, Amy has green eyes, because of something that happened in an earlier fanfic. Both stories can be found on my website, http://www.crosswinds.net/~stc2/ …. plug…)  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: Emerald Hill Zone.  
  
Time: Early evening, 1 month after the destruction of the timeship Infinity.  
  
In the Emerald Hill zone it was a perfectly ordinary late summer evening, but in Sonic's base it was panic stations.  
  
"Sonic, are you sure about this?" Porker was saying.  
  
"Of course I'm sure, have I ever been wrong?!" Sonic snapped back, glancing at the pig. Apart from the Kintobor computer, they were the only ones in the room- Tekno was in her lab helping Tails design a new plane, and Amy was out shopping again. "Check your scanners if you want, but my Chaos-sense just went crazy. Something weird is going on."  
  
"He's right," the Kintobor computer said, after pausing to scan the area. "I'm not getting a Chaos reading from the Floating Island anymore. The Chaos Emeralds must have left the island."  
  
"Sounds like trouble to me," Sonic thought aloud. "Kintobor, see if you can contact Knuckles, see what's going on over there."  
  
"I'm on it," Kintobor replied, and within seconds the hologram of his face was replaced by an image of the echidna in the Emerald Chamber.  
  
"What happened, Red?" asked Sonic, as Porker started to explain to Knuckles what was happening.  
  
"The Kintobor computer says—" Sonic shut him up with a glare. "All right, all right…" Porker continued, "Sonic says that the emeralds have gone from your island."  
  
"He's right," Knuckles sighed. "I was ready to get the island airborne again, but one of the key control systems was more badly damaged than I thought. It failed and I had to eject the emeralds before the whole place blew up." He paused. "Looks like it's back to square one. Luckily I managed to grab one of the Chaos emeralds in time," Knuckles held the blue emerald up to the camera.  
  
"Why didn't you ask us for help earlier?" Porker asked. "I know how a lot of those systems work."  
  
"Because I thought I could do it myself. And Sonic would have complained, as usual."  
  
"No I wouldn't, I've been really bored this month. Would've been something to do." the hedgehog replied.  
  
"Huh, can't win with you." Knuckles looked thoughtful. "Hmm, maybe you can still help. Any idea where the rest of the emeralds are?"  
  
"Er, not really…"  
  
"I thought you could sense Chaos energy."  
  
"Yeah, but my ability has a limited range- and single emeralds are a lot harder to detect than when they're together. I'd have to be within a few miles to pick one up." Porker frowned.  
  
"So there aren't any nearby?"  
  
"I don't think so…" Sonic replied. "But at least we know where they aren't. Looks like we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way, guys." A small smirk appeared on Sonic's face.  
  
"What?!" Knuckles exclaimed.  
  
"I was just thinking… does this sound like an adventure to you?"  
  
"Sonic, this is serious! What if Robotnik tries to get his hands on my emeralds?"  
  
"What do you mean, if?" At least Sonic wouldn't be bored anymore.  
  
"Gah!" Knuckles could see that the smirk hadn't budged. "Just help me find those emeralds," he said, ending the transmission. Kintobor's face reappeared. Sonic turned to the door, about to rush out and tell Tails and Tekno the news.  
  
"Tails had better hurry up and finish that 'plane, it could come in handy," he thought. This was gonna be just like the old days.  
  
"Sonic, wait a minute," Porker said quickly. "I don't think it's really important, but Knuckles was talking about Robotnik, which reminded me…"  
  
"Spill it, Lewis." Sonic was impatient to get going.  
  
"Well," Porker continued, "I was studying the device Pyjamas got from Robotnik. It's got a lot of information from the timeship Infinity's memory files." He fished out the small device, handing it to Sonic. It looked very much like a complex handheld video game, with the words 'Don't Panic' written on its' screen.  
  
"Yeah, I remember this thing," Sonic said, not mentioning that it was one of the few things he did remember about that particular adventure. Porker continued talking.  
  
"Well, I discovered it had a record of the first time the Infinity visited modern Mobius. The date isn't specified, but it was sometime in the last 100 years. Apparently, some of the people on board refused to have a part in Captain Tiberius' plans for world domination. They left the ship, settling here on Mobius…"  
  
"So what's that got to do with Robotnik?" Sonic said, wishing Porker would get to the point.  
  
"It has everything to do with him, Sonic- a number of families left the ship, and one of them was the Kintobor family!"  
  
"Really?!" Sonic and the Kintobor computer exclaimed in unison.  
  
"Whoa, I always wondered where you came from, bud!" Sonic said.  
  
"It's news to me," Said the virtual Doc. "I- the real Dr. Kintobor, anyway- thought we'd always lived on Mobius."  
  
"You learn something new every day…" Porker smiled.  
  
"I'm curious-" the computer continued, "Does it say what happened to them afterwards?"  
  
"No," Porker shook his head. "But I've done some research, and apparently Dr. Gerald Kintobor, one of the Infinity's top scientists, designed a space colony and went to live there with his granddaughter Maria. This was 50 or 60 years ago, according to the government's records…" A puzzled looking Sonic interrupted him.  
  
"If he built a space colony, how come I've never heard of it?"  
  
"Not many people have- the ARK was pretty hush-hush at the time. Dr. Gerald was working on some sort of special project up there, but I couldn't find out what it was. Classified information, apparently…"  
  
"Is the ARK still there today?"  
  
"Yes, but it's abandoned- it was shut down because of some sort of accident. That's classified, too."  
  
"Sounds fishy…I've seen a few sci-fi films that start out that way." Sonic said. "It would be cool to check it out. But right now I've got more important things to do- like finding those emeralds. There's no time to lose!" Sonic dashed off to find Tails. This ARK business probably wasn't important anyway- but Sonic couldn't help wondering exactly what Dr. Gerald had been working on. Perhaps, he thought, he would soon find out…  
  
* * * *  
  
Elsewhere on Planet Mobius, another hedgehog watched as a streak of green light sped across the sky. The hedgehog was known as Shade because he always wore sunglasses, but he called himself Phoenix. He was yellowish- brown in colour, and wore a denim jacket, blue trainers and a worried expression. He knew a Chaos Emerald when he saw one, and had felt it's energy even before he had seen the distant glow. He had a bad feeling about this…  
  
"I don't like the look of this," he said, glancing over to where his motorbike was parked. A green baby Chao was sitting beside it.  
  
"!" It agreed.  
  
"Well, it's none of my business anyway," Shade thought, wanting to check it out but trying to convince himself otherwise. "Sonic can handle it." Shade didn't want to get involved in another stupid adventure, especially if Chaos Emeralds were involved. That part of his life was over. But at the same time, he felt that he had a responsibility to do something about this. If the Emerald fell into the wrong hands…  
  
"What do you think, Sparky?" He said to the Chao.  
  
"?" It said.  
  
"I guess that means it's my decision." Shade paused, thinking. If he ignored the Emerald, it would be his own fault if anything bad happened because of it. He already had enough guilt on his conscience. Shade made the only decision he could, and moments later there was no sign of the hedgehog and his Chao- except some tire tracks in the direction that the Emerald had gone.  
  
1 Chapter 2  
  
1.1 Location: Prison Island military base  
  
1.2 Time: Two days later  
  
The island was small, mostly uninhabited and located somewhere off the coast of the Metropolis Zone. Its' name was deceiving, for only part of the island was used as a prison, and then only in special circumstances. Most of the island was untamed jungle, but there was also a long-abandoned military base. No one had been inside the complex in years- until now…  
  
Deep in the core of the base, explosions flared as Dr. Robotnik blasted the last two guard robots. He had been careless to activate the automatic defences, but his new Egg Walker had made short work of them. Robotnik hadn't realised that Mobius possessed such advanced technology- the robots were, he thought, almost as good as his own Badniks. Someone had taken a lot of trouble to guard something in the base. The egg-shaped madman didn't know all the facts, but he knew enough to want to find out what that 'something' was.  
  
Robotnik had been lucky enough to find the diary of his grandfather, Gerald Kintobor, and he had been luckier still to find a Chaos Emerald. Dr. Gerald's notes had mentioned his legacy, something called 'Project Shadow'. It was locked up in this complex, and Gerald's brief description suggested it was a weapon of awesome power. It had been hidden here because the military feared it...  
  
Perhaps things were, at last, going Dr. Robotnik's way. It was another sign that he was destined to rule Mobius forever.  
  
"Hahahahahaha…!"  
  
Soon Robotnik had come to a shielded door, which he blasted open. Beyond it was a complex computer console, and some sort of storage unit set into the floor.  
  
"So this is the secret weapon my grandfather mentioned," Robotnik said to himself. Being insane, he talked to himself a lot. "It's a lot smaller than I expected." Faintly disappointed, having expected a super bomb or laser cannon, he began to type into the keyboard.  
  
"Enter user data… aha, enter password…" Robotnik consulted the diary. "Password is, ma…ri…a, Maria!" Now for the next stage. Reaching into the cramped cockpit of the Egg Walker, he withdrew the Grey Emerald, slotting it into a custom-made compartment in the console. Project Shadow was powered by Chaos energy. For a few seconds nothing happened, but then there was a rumbling sound…  
  
Robotnik made the Egg Walker take a pace backwards, startled. What he had assumed was a small storage module was rising into the air, becoming a column that towered over him. Was this the secret weapon? No- it was just a platform, Robotnik realised, and there was something on top. The dark shape slowly uncoiled itself, as if waking from a long sleep, becoming a jagged silhouette that Robotnik recognised instantly.  
  
"Sonic, is that you, come to foil my plans again?" But even as he spoke, the hedgehogs' blood-red eyes opened and Robotnik realised his mistake. "Wait a minute- you're not Sonic! This is impossible!" Robotnik was confused- none of his grandfather's notes had mentioned this! The hedgehog actually looked something like Super Sonic, except that his spikes were black with red streaks. He had a patch of white fur on his chest and black and yellow rings fastened on his wrists. "Wh…who are you?" Robotnik asked.  
  
"My name is Shadow," the hedgehog replied…  
  
* * * *  
  
Shadow gazed down at the human. It looked familiar- was this his creator, Dr. Gerald? No, this one was younger and much fatter- perhaps a relative or a descendant. Shadow was mildly surprised, as it meant he had been in suspended animation for longer than he had expected. That didn't matter, anyway- as long as the space colony ARK still existed, he could have his revenge for…  
  
…for…  
  
Shadow blocked the memory and the emotion that came with it. He must not show any weakness in front of this inferior creature…after all, Shadow was the Ultimate Life Form. Still, the human had released him…  
  
"As you have released me, my master, I will grant you a wish."  
  
A greedy smile appeared on Robotnik's face. I was right, Shadow thought, he's just like all the others. In Shadow's opinion, all people were alike: power-hungry and selfish. He would make them all pay- and this fat man would help him.  
  
Suddenly the air was filled with machine gun fire as a guard robot roared into the room. This was a 'Hot Shot' model, activated by Shadow's release, and was bigger and more powerful than the others. Shadow saw it as a good chance to test his abilities. "Witness the true power I possess," He said, leaping off the platform. Hover jets in his shoes began to lower him to the ground, but suddenly he was halfway across the room, easily dodging the robot's machine gun. Robotnik tried to follow his movements, but the black hedgehog was moving far too fast. Despite his speed, he ran with an effortless skating movement. Shadow was pleased- being in suspended animation hadn't weakened him at all, and the Chaos Emerald had fully restored his energy.  
  
The Hot Shot was now powering up its' main laser cannon, but the machine was failing to lock on to Shadow. He always seemed to be ahead of the targeting crosshair. Suddenly, however, Shadow stopped moving and allowed the laser to lock on. The cannon fired a beam of blue light, but the only thing it hit was the floor…  
  
Shadow's plan had worked perfectly. At the last second he had leaped into the air- putting him in a perfect position to attack the robot's 'cockpit'. It never saw him coming. There was a crash, and it was over.  
  
* * * *  
  
"Impressive," Robotnik murmured, as the wreckage settled to the ground. "So you are the secret weapon the military was so afraid of." Shadow, who was standing with his back to the Egg Walker, looked back over his shoulder. "But what did you mean when you said you would grant me a wish?" Robotnik continued.  
  
"Bring more Chaos Emeralds." Replied the hedgehog. "Meet me in the central control room on the space colony ARK." Shadow began to walk away.  
  
"Shadow, wait!" Robotnik cried, but was too late. Mid-stride, Shadow disappeared in a flash of green light. Robotnik's jaw dropped open. He was shocked into silence, but his mind was racing.  
  
"A creature as fast as Sonic, with the ability to teleport…" He thought, an evil grin spreading over his face. "And it seems to be on my side." The grin became wider as Robotnik thought of the havoc they could cause. "Perhaps my luck is finally changing!" He said aloud, his voice rising to a shout. "Sonic, do I have a surprise for you! Hahahahahahaha!"  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location: Metropolis City, near Station Square  
  
Time: 4am the next day  
  
Even on a dark, wet and windy night like this, Metropolis City was crowded with traffic. Sonic the hedgehog stepped out of the train station into the pouring rain, cursing the fact that he couldn't run with an umbrella. He stood at the top of the steps and glanced at the few humans wandering around the streets.  
  
"I gotta hand it to them, they've done a good job fixing this place up," He thought, remembering the ruins left behind by Perfect Chaos. A lot of the area had been left abandoned afterwards, and the recently arrived humans had made it their 'capital city'. Sonic had come early to avoid the rush hour, knowing that in a few hours time he wouldn't be able to move because of the crowds. "I'd better get on with it before I get soaked." Sonic had located a Chaos Emerald in the city's Federal Bank. The humans didn't know what it was, of course, and being the annoying animals that they were, didn't want to part with it. He wasn't looking forward to convincing them otherwise, especially since few of them had ever heard of him.  
  
Sonic leaped onto the banister and slid down the steps, jumping off the end to land in the middle of the road.  
  
"Whoa!" Diving out of the way of a passing van, he shot down the highway. There was a massive traffic jam ahead, so Sonic began to leap from car to car, ignoring the shouts of the drivers who didn't appreciate having their roofs dented by a speeding hedgehog. Dropping to the ground, Sonic saw a stretch of open road ahead and raced through a red light, only to see the flash of a speed camera out of the corner of his eye.  
  
"Damn! Caught for reckless running again." Sonic grinned, thinking about what the traffic police were going to make of it.  
  
"Hope you got my good side," He yelled into the wind. "'Cos next time I'll be goin' so fast you won't even see me!" Sonic left the main road and angled into a side street. He didn't need a map- at this range he could feel the energy from the Chaos Emerald. If he took a short cut down this alley, he would arrive right in front of the Federal Bank-  
  
"Wha--?" There was some kind of commotion up ahead. Lights and sirens, people shouting. And the Chaos Emerald was moving, in Sonic's direction, very fast. Mixed in with its' energy signature was another, chaotic but different.  
  
"What the heck is goin' on?!" As Sonic tried to focus on the weird energy signature, it's owner flashed past. Sonic got an impression of something dark, but that was all because it was moving too fast for even him to see. Seconds later the sound arrived, the sonic boom almost knocking the blue hedgehog off his feet.  
  
"No way…" He gasped in disbelief. "Nothing can move that fast…" Sonic looked in the direction that the dark thing had gone. It was no longer there, but a strange green flash lit the sky in the distance. It faded quickly and Sonic realised the energy from the Chaos Emerald was also gone.  
  
"Out of range already… man." Sonic shook his head. "I don't know what that was, but it looked like trouble to me."  
  
"You're in trouble alright," a voice said, as lights came on all around him. "You're under arrest." Sonic was dazzled, but could make out the hovering vehicles that surrounded him on all sides. He could also see the insignia that identified them as G.U.N, the human military organisation.  
  
"Look, if this is about that red light I jumped…" Sonic started.  
  
"You know what this is about, hedgehog," Said the voice as the speaker came into view. Squinting, Sonic saw a human female he recognised instantly.  
  
"Oh great, not you again." He muttered under his breath.  
  
"You don't have any rights in my opinion, but I have to read them to you anyway," She said. As she talked, Sonic glanced around him. Gun barrels pointed at him from all directions.  
  
"No escape there, then," he thought. "This is turning into one of those days." Seething inside because he hated to surrender, Sonic sighed and put his hands in the air.  
  
"Sonic the hedgehog, you are under arrest for the theft of the Chaos Emerald."  
  
To be continued…  
  
Next:  
  
Knuckles runs into some shady characters while searching for the Master Emerald, and Sonic is in trouble with the police-but who is the human who captured him? And what is Shadow up to?  
  
Find out in part 2, 'Shattered' 


	2. Shattered

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 2.  
  
"Shattered"  
  
By T. Evans.  
  
Disclaimer? See chapter 1.  
  
* * *  
  
Location: The new Metropolis City suspension bridge  
  
Time: 4:30 am  
  
On the south side of the Metropolis Zone, a new bridge and network of roads are being built. Although not completed, the bridge is impressive, especially now it is crowded with police cars. The rain has finally stopped. Although there is a faint glow in the east, it is still dark- but not as dark as the figure standing on one of the bridge's support columns. His name is Shadow, and he gazes at the people milling around below with a look of contempt.  
  
"How pathetic." Stealing the Chaos Emerald had been too easy, no challenge at all. The combined forces of the Metropolis police and the army had barely even put up a fight. But, Shadow thinks, what else could he expect? He is better than they are.  
  
Shadow watches more police cars arrive. The air is filled with sirens, lit by flashing red and blue lights. It almost reminds him of—  
  
"--Maria!!"  
  
--Flashing lights. Sirens. Red Alert! Shadow is running through the corridors of ARK. He is confused. Where is Maria taking him? They are being pursued by people from Mobius. They must escape- but to where? And why?  
  
…Now they are in the control room. Maria has been shot, but determinedly types at a control panel. Shadow suddenly finds himself trapped in a capsule.  
  
"Wha?!"  
  
Maria is talking. "Shadow, I beg of you… do it for me… for all the people on that planet…"  
  
Shadow doesn't seem to hear the rest, as he suddenly understands what is going to happen. Until now, he knew nothing of death. At first, he feels cold rage, then nothing at all. Nothing except a darkness in his heart that wasn't there before.  
  
Shadow hears Maria say goodbye. He turns his head away as his capsule blasts into space…  
  
Shadow jerks back to reality, nearly dropping the green Chaos Emerald. He wishes he didn't have to endure these flashbacks. But this one has reminded him of his mission here…  
  
"Yes, I remember what I promised you, Maria." Shadow thinks, holding the emerald up high and studying it. "For the people of this planet… I promise you revenge!!"  
  
"Bad memories, huh?"  
  
"What-?" Shadow turns toward the voice, for in his moment of distraction someone has been able to sneak up on him. "Who are you?" The stranger is riding a motorbike equipped with an anti-gravity engine, and hovers silently at eye level.  
  
"It doesn't matter who I am, just take my advice."  
  
"Give me one good reason why I should listen to a pathetic creature like you." The stranger, a hedgehog of the ordinary brown type, doesn't react to the insult. He just sighs. The hedgehog's eyes are hidden behind shades, but still fix Shadow with a haunted gaze.  
  
"Because I can see what you're going through. You still have a chance to put things right…"  
  
"That's exactly what I am going to do."  
  
"By destroying everything?"  
  
"Hopefully. Now leave me alone." The biker sighs again, shaking his head.  
  
"There's still hope for you, Shadow…" He says as his vehicle drifts away. The glow in the east is brighter now.  
  
Behind him, Shadow turns away from the light. He grinds down the suspension cables into the darkness…  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Location: Somewhere above Metropolis City  
  
Time: Around midday  
  
"This is Sigma-Alpha 2, heading due south over the city…" The faint voice of the pilot filtered out of the cockpit of the big helicopter. "Captured hedgehog is secured on board."  
  
"And don't I know it," Sonic thought to himself, thinking about how he had got himself into this mess. In order to pass the time, he remembered last night's interrogation at the police station.  
  
"It wasn't me!" Sonic had protested. "I didn't steal that emerald, it was some other guy." The human police officers had looked at him sceptically.  
  
"So would you like to tell us who else is fast enough to make the Chaos Emerald disappear from under our noses? Just tell us where you hid it, Mr. Hedgehog. It'll be much easier for you if you do." Then they had showed him a photograph. A blurred figure silhouetted in the emerald's glow, with upturned spines and blazing red eyes. Sonic thought it looked nothing like him, but all hedgehogs probably looked the same to these people- most humans looked pretty much the same to Sonic, anyway.  
  
"You think that's me? I'm much better looking." Sonic looked at the photo more closely. "I don't have red eyes, either."  
  
"You can't fool me, yellow boy." Said the human who had captured him. Sonic gritted his teeth, tried to stay calm.  
  
"Don't call me that, okay?" he growled. He had met this human on the Timeship Infinity. She had made the mistake of calling him 'yellow' before and witnessed the consequences… Didn't it just have to be her. "Alright, so Super Sonic had red eyes. But that's not him either, because he's gone for good." Sonic wasn't so sure on that point, because what Ebony had told him had been pretty vague. Besides, something didn't feel right here. But he tried to explain anyway, starting with what had happened on the Infinity.  
  
"Listen, you probably think it was me who set your ship to self destruct. It wasn't. It was Super Sonic, he somehow transferred his mind into the ship's computer, and took control- I escaped, but he got trapped on board and…and this probably sounds really stupid doesn't it?" Sonic's voice trailed off as he saw the expression on the officers' faces. It was a crazy story, but it was the truth- however, Sonic realised he was making a fool of himself.  
  
It had all gone downhill from there…  
  
"And now I'm stuck in a helicopter headed straight for Prison Island," He thought. What a day. Well, Sonic had had enough. He glanced at the handcuffs which bound his arms and legs, then at the three big humans that shared the back compartment of the 'copter with him. Each of them was twice Sonic's height and brandished ugly looking guns. "No problem," He thought. He'd been framed- and seeing as no one would listen to him, he was going to do some investigating of his own. He thought for a moment about the strange, dark creature he had glimpsed in the alley the night before. It's energy signature had been similar to his own- although Sonic was sure it hadn't been Super Sonic.  
  
If the humans had been paying attention at this point, they would have noticed Sonic shivering slightly. But they didn't, and even if they had, they would have gloated- thinking they were terrifying what looked to them like a small, defenceless animal. Actually, Sonic was carrying out the tried-and-tested escape method of weakening the cuffs with supersonic vibration. Seconds later, all hell broke loose…  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location: Some ancient ruins in the desert  
  
Time: Mid day  
  
At this time of day, the desert was usually silent. Most creatures in their right minds would have got out of the searing desert heat. However, today was an exception, because Knuckles had more important things to worry about than the weather. He was busy arguing with a bat, of all things, over the possession of the Master Emerald. Out of sight behind him, in the shadows of a ruined temple, Shade Phoenix also had more important things to concern himself with.  
  
"What was I thinking?" He scolded himself. He had made a mistake last night- He should have snatched that Emerald when he had the chance… goodness knows what that Shadow guy was going to do with it. Phoenix had been watching as the black hedgehog had had some sort of flashback- and for a moment there was a look in his eyes that Shade Phoenix had seen before... in the mirror. So he had let Shadow take the Emerald, unable to bring himself to face him. "Guess I messed up bigtime, huh, Sparky?" Sparky the Chao made a puzzled mewling noise. "Why did I let him go?" Shade paused, thinking. "I guess I kinda felt sorry for him. There's something about that guy that reminds me of …"  
  
"!?" Sparky said.  
  
"Yeah, it probably was just my imagination. I must be going soft or somethin'…" Still, there were always the other six emeralds. Whatever Shadow was planning, he probably needed more than one, which reminded Shade of why he was here. So far, he had kept out of Knuckles' argument, hoping to intervene only if things got ugly. As always, he wanted to keep out of sight as much as possible, but he had come prepared anyway- glancing down uncomfortably, he checked the settings on the electromagnetic disruptor cannon and hoped he wouldn't have to use it. Having set up his weapon, Shade turned his attention back to the Master Emerald…  
  
"Just let it go!" Rouge cried, exasperated. "You don't know when to give up, do you?" Her bat wings fluttered angrily as she glared at the furious echidna. She was wearing a lilac and white top and matching knee-length boots, her appearance, Knuckles thought, was only spoiled by the look of greed on her face.  
  
"I'm not the one who should give up, sister." Who did this girl think she was, challenging Knuckles? The Master Emerald belonged to him. He hadn't walked through the desert all day for nothing, and the long trek had put him in a bad mood. He was ready to fight- in fact, he looked forward to the prospect. "Man, I'm starting to act like Sonic," He said to himself. To the bat, he said: "That emerald's mine." But someone else seemed to have had the same idea- as they were talking, a low humming noise had begun to get steadily louder. Knuckles noticed a shadow pass over him.  
  
"Wha-?" Looking up, he saw a small, round craft blotting out the sun above where the Master Emerald lay. A trapdoor in its underside opened and a mechanical arm shot out, grabbing the emerald before pulling it closer to the vehicle. A voice drifted down.  
  
"This is the Master Emerald, isn't it?"  
  
"Robotnik!" Knuckles snarled, as Rouge gasped in horror.  
  
"I'm sure I can find some use for it," Chuckled Robotnik, making his egg shaped craft rise into the air. The machine picked up speed…  
  
"Not if I can help it!" Knuckles yelled, launching himself after it…  
  
Shade Phoenix watched Knuckles' desperate leap, and thought "He's not gonna make it!" Shade knew what he had to do. Bringing the cannon up to his shoulder, he aimed it at Robotnik's ship, finger tightening on the trigger. His aim was perfect. But…  
  
"Argh! I…I can't do it…!" He couldn't be responsible for the death of another being. Even if it was Robotnik. But there was always another way… He shifted his aim slightly. Desperately fiddled with the gun's settings. Hoped he'd got it right.  
  
Then he pulled the trigger…  
  
Knuckles was only inches from the Master Emerald when it exploded into pieces.  
  
"Argh!" Shielding his eyes from the razor sharp shards, Knuckles dropped to the ground. When he looked again, Robotnik was gone. But Knuckles was now at the mercy of Rouge…  
  
"Look what you did to my emerald!" She shrieked, shaking him. Knuckles, still in shock, didn't resist- just weakly muttered "It wasn't me…"As he was nose-to nose with the bat, he had the crazy thought that her eyes were the same colour as the Master Emerald. Knuckles felt a little strange all of a sudden, but the gleam of light on her fangs soon snapped him out of it. Recovering, he shoved Rouge away. "At least now it's safe from the likes of you."  
  
"Hmph!" She replied. "I'm Rouge the bat. And all the world's gems are mine to keep!"  
  
Meanwhile, for the second time in 24 hours, Shade was wondering if he'd done the right thing.  
  
"I'm not doing a very good job of this am I?" He didn't think he was cut out for this sort of thing, at least not anymore. "Not long ago I wouldn't even have hesitated about shooting Robotnik," He shuddered. It was best not to think about that. "Well, I suppose there's no danger of Robotnik getting the emerald now…"  
  
Suddenly, however, Shade realised something. The energy from the Master Emerald hadn't disappeared, instead each piece was giving off its own signal. It must have been something to do with the way he'd set up the electromagnetic disruptor. Thinking about what this could mean, Shade slipped quietly away with his Chao following behind.  
  
In effect, instead of there being seven Chaos Emeralds, there were now over one hundred…  
  
Knuckles and Rouge realised the same thing when Knuckles' emerald radar, which he'd used to find the Master emerald, started beeping loudly. They looked at the radar, at the desert, then at each other. It made some sort of crazy sense- once, Knuckles remembered, the seven emeralds had been split into fourteen. And he had managed to re-combine them. Knuckles wanted to know why the emerald had smashed, but the most important thing right now was to put it together again- exchanging suspicious glances, Knuckles and Rouge set off in opposite directions to look for the pieces.  
  
The race was on…  
  
Chapter 4  
  
1 Location: Metropolis City  
  
Time: Mid Day  
  
The humans didn't know what hit them.  
  
Within seconds of Sonic breaking free of the handcuffs, he had shot past the guards and spin-attacked his way through the side of the helicopter. He clung to the side for a moment, listening to the humans' cries of "What the hell??" and "Get him!" As usual, Sonic had a cool line at the ready.  
  
"I hate these low budget flights! No food or movies… I'm outta here!" Suddenly realising how far down it was, he added "Of course, I'd feel better running…" Luckily, a big sheet of metal had broken off the side of the aircraft. Sonic grabbed it gratefully, realising it could help control his descent. "On the other hand, I've always wanted to try sky surfing! Yeee-haa!" Grinning, Sonic dropped into empty air as the humans stared in disbelief.  
  
From this high up, Sonic had a perfect view of the Emerald Coast and the desert beyond. As he glided down and to the right, he thought: "Knuckles, eat your heart out!" Then his Chaos sense reacted dimly to something in the distance. It was hard to make out, but was that something weird on the horizon? Little green sparks of light like a dust cloud. "Speaking of which, that's odd…" Sonic thought about this for a moment, then shrugged. He had more important things on his mind. Like- how was he going to land this thing?  
  
To be continued…  
  
Next: 'City Escape'  
  
It's every hedgehog's worst nightmare! Sonic's being chased by a giant truck—but can he avoid becoming roadkill? 


	3. City Escape

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 3.  
  
"City Escape"  
  
By T. Evans.  
  
* * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: Metropolis Zone City  
  
1 Time: Around noon  
  
It had rained the night before, but today the sun was out and the Metropolis was a hive of activity. A mixture of Mobians and humans went about their daily business, paying no attention to the sound of a helicopter overhead. Within seconds, though, there came a sound that was much harder to ignore.  
  
It wasn't every day that a hedgehog fell out of the sky…  
  
"Yaaaaaaaaargh!!! Look out below!!!" Sonic yelled, grimly hanging on to the sheet of metal he'd been using to slow his fall. Where was Tails when he needed him?? Jumping from that helicopter had seemed like such a good idea at the time.  
  
Cars swerved out of the way as the metal panel hit the tarmac with a loud clang, and skidded down the steep hill- Sonic now using it as a makeshift skateboard.  
  
"All right!" He grinned, silently adding the words "It must be my lucky day." Expertly keeping his balance, Sonic guided the board between the startled drivers. But all was not well- friction between the road and the metal was causing it to heat up alarmingly. A shower of sparks fanned out behind and Sonic could feel the heat through his insulated trainers. He had to get off – and fast!  
  
That problem, however, was resolved much sooner than he expected. Distracted by the heat, Sonic hadn't been looking where he was going. There was a loud crash, a screech of tires and suddenly Sonic found himself flying through the air. He caught a glimpse of the startled driver of the car he'd crashed into before slamming into the side of another, then rolling under a third- avoiding the deadly wheels by barely an inch. Luckily, he pulled himself onto the pavement before he could get squished.  
  
"Idiot, idiot, idiot!!" He grumbled. A crowd of onlookers had gathered, and they didn't know if he was talking about himself, the driver or both.  
  
"What the heck are you lookin' at??" Sonic hissed, his ego hurt more than anything. "It's as if they haven't seen a blue hedgehog before, or something…"  
  
Someone giggled. "Er, are you alright?" One human ventured.  
  
"Of course I am!" Sonic snapped, trying to regain his composure. However, as he got to his feet his right leg gave way. There was a long graze from knee to ankle- it wasn't serious, but it still hurt to move.  
  
"This just isn't my day, is it?' Sonic moaned, limping off into a quiet back alley. "I knew I should've stayed in bed…"  
  
This wasn't going to do much good for Sonic's reputation. As he tried to tidy his spikes up a bit, he noted that apart from the graze on his leg and a few bruises, he was unharmed. However, he thought, hearing sirens in the distance, that injury was bad enough. The city was still on high alert after last night's bank robbery, and the police were no doubt looking for Sonic- he would need to get out of there, fast.  
  
Then something grabbed Sonic's attention, a familiar buzzing in his head that could mean only one thing.  
  
"A Chaos Emerald!" The energy signature was somewhere in the city. "Got you now, thief," Sonic grinned, his injured leg forgotten for the moment, and turned to follow the trail of the Emerald.  
  
* * * *  
  
A few blocks away, Shadow stood on top of a building, wondering why he had remained in the city after stealing the Chaos Emerald. The place disgusted him- a hive of people like a virus on the planet's surface. Still, he felt strangely reluctant to return to ARK, even though he knew he must go there. Too many bad memories. Shadow looked up at the sky- the ARK space colony was not visible at this time of day. Within a few days, however, every being on the planet would know of its existence… if Robotnik managed to find the other Emeralds, that is. Pleased by the thought, Shadow gathered his energy ready to warp to the space colony, but something distracted him. Shadow was a chaotic creature and he could sense Chaos energy even more accurately than Sonic could, so he picked up Sonic's energy signature easily.  
  
"That wannabe again," He thought, remembering seeing Sonic in the alley the night before. He decided to take a closer look, and headed in the direction of the energy signal…  
  
* * * *  
  
"I hate days like this!!" Sonic yelled as he pelted down the wrong side of the road. First, he'd fallen out of a helicopter, then made a fool of himself by nearly getting run over, now this.  
  
"I've seen this movie," Sonic said to himself as he glanced behind.  
  
The huge ammo truck thundered down the street, intent on turning Sonic into hedgehog pizza. The vehicle stuck to the centre of the road causing cars to swerve around it.  
  
"Those humes must be really desperate. No police cars in the area, so they send that after me…" Sonic leaped over another car, heard rather than saw it smash into a shop window behind him. "Oops." The worst thing was, of course, that Sonic couldn't outrun the eighteen-wheeler. With the injury to his leg, the best he could manage was an 80mph jog. "All right, let's see if he can corner as well as I can…" Sonic thought, swerving into a side street. There was a screech of tires and a crash behind him. "Didn't think so." However, a scream of tortured metal made Sonic look back over his shoulder. The truck had just made it, and scraped along the side of some buildings before moving back to the middle of the road. It was back on the chase- if a little dented.  
  
"So that's the way you wanna play, huh?" Sonic grinned, beginning to enjoy himself despite the pain in his leg. "OK, let's see how you like this!"  
  
Sonic led the huge vehicle on a mad chase through the city, taking as many turns as possible. He weaved and dodged in a twisting path though dozens of streets, the truck leaving a trail of destruction behind it. But the juggernaut could not be shaken. "Gotta admit it, whoever's driving that thing ain't bad…" Sonic spotted something in a side street, and took another sharp turn. "But that don't count when you're up against Sonic!"  
  
Grinning, Sonic shouted "Low Bridge!!" As he shot under a highway overpass. The truck followed- and came to a grinding halt as the roof of its cabin wedged under the low archway.  
  
"Man- these humans are dumb," Laughed Sonic, finding himself in a small, open courtyard. He bent down and rubbed his leg. "Now, where did that Chaos Emerald go…"  
  
Sonic didn't get an answer. Some instinct told him to look up… to see a remote-piloted G.U.N aircraft, bristling with weaponry, floating menacingly above him.  
  
"Gimme a break! Now what?!"  
  
The vehicle lowered its machine gun and opened fire…  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 2  
  
2 Location: Ancient Ruins  
  
Time: around noon  
  
The great building in the desert had stood for aeons. Thousands of years ago, an army of Echidnas had toiled to build this place- perhaps in celebration of a great victory in battle. The Echidnas were long gone, the ancient palace forgotten. But now it had a new purpose…  
  
It had been a stroke of genius to make a new base inside the ruins. But, Robotnik thought, what else could be expected from the greatest mind on Mobius?  
  
Robotnik gazed around at the dozens of flashing computer monitors with pride as he entered the small control room. No one would ever find him here. Getting out of his mechanical Egg Walker, he looked around at his creations.  
  
Suddenly, the silence was broken by a strident beeping.  
  
"Hmm."  
  
Thoughtfully, Robotnik pressed a button on one of the consoles- this one's purpose was to monitor the airwaves for anything of interest, saving the mad scientist the trouble of doing it himself. The screen lit up with a fuzzy, static-slashed picture of a news broadcast.  
  
"The main headlines again:" A reporter was saying. "The federal bank in the Metropolis Zone was robbed today. Strangely, the only thing that was stolen was the Chaos Emerald."  
  
"The Chaos Emerald??" Robotnik exclaimed, suddenly interested as the picture switched to a shot of the new Metropolis City Bridge. There was a figure on one of the support struts, grasping the emerald.  
  
"Police are now in pursuit of the main suspect," The reporter continued, "Who, shockingly, is the world renowned hero, Sonic the hedgehog…"  
  
"Hmm, that sounds more like the work of Shadow," Robotnik pondered. But at least Sonic was going to have his hands full with the police for a while. "With the Chaos emerald in the space colony ARK…" For a moment, Robotnik stared at the ceiling as if he could see the ARK through the solid stone. Then he grabbed the two emeralds he'd been able to find so far. "I think I'll find out what he's up to." Robotnik clambered back into his Egg Walker, and the machine clanked its way over to another complex invention. After keying in a couple of commands, Robotnik disappeared in a flash of light.  
  
* * * *  
  
The would-be dictator didn't know that he'd been followed.  
  
Rouge the bat had used her treasure scope to track the concentration of Chaos energy into the centre of the ruins, after her confrontation with Knuckles a few hours before. She'd managed to pick up a few pieces of the Master Emerald along the way. After spotting Robotnik, however, she had known that she would have to follow him- this part of her mission was more important than finding the scattered fragments. She did want to be paid, didn't she?  
  
Of course, it didn't hurt that this mission involved those fabulous Chaos Emeralds. Rouge smiled- she never had been able to resist a good jewel.  
  
Slipping into the control room after Robotnik, she watched as he was beamed up. Rouge strode over to the machine, and expertly tapped at the keyboard.  
  
"Ahhh, a space transporter… and the destination is ARK." The bat frowned. "What's he doing up there?" After typing in another brief sequence, she too disappeared.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location; Metropolis City  
  
2.1 Time: Five minutes later  
  
"This is wonderful," Sonic hissed sarcastically, as he dived for cover behind a wooden crate. "Just flipping brilliant." A stream of bullets smashed the crate into splinters, sending Sonic out into the open. The G.U.N robot swung around for a better aim. This time, the Bigfoot- model machine lowered itself to the ground on two mechanical legs and started to power up its' main cannon.  
  
"Two can play at that game," Sonic thought. "Let's see which of us can charge up the fastest," he said aloud. Sonic began to glow neon blue as he tapped into his reserve of Chaos energy. The Lightspeed Attack could provide a momentary burst of Super Sonic-like speed and strength, but it took time to gather enough energy. Sonic didn't like using the Lightspeed Attack, but here it was necessary…  
  
Sonic attacked at the same moment that the cannon fired. The spinning ball of speed Sonic had become knocked the laser bolt aside with ease, and powered though the G.U.N machine is if it was made of tissue paper. Sonic kept going…  
  
"Where did that wall come from? Aargh!" Sonic thought, a millisecond before impact.  
  
*THUD*  
  
"I'm never gonna get the hang of that…" Behind him, the smoking wreckage of the Bigfoot robot sagged to its' knees and keeled over.  
  
Picking himself up off the floor, Sonic noticed the cut on his leg had nearly healed up. "I guess that's why Super Sonic never seemed to get hurt…" It was weird how, as soon as Sonic thought he'd figured out what Chaos energy could do, it did something new and unpredictable. "Guess it's not called Chaos for nothing. This could come in handy though," he added thoughtfully. "Speaking of Chaos—"  
  
Sonic whipped around, sensing the presence of the Chaos Emerald.  
  
"Not bad for an impostor…" A quiet, sinister voice said.  
  
"What the-?" Perched on the wreckage of the G.U.N robot was the hedgehog that Sonic had glimpsed briefly the night before. The black hedgehog bore some resemblance to Sonic, in the same way that a distant relative would- like Sonic, he was small, compact and athletic looking. But where Sonic's spikes curved smoothly the stranger's were all sharp angles and points. Although he was the same size as Sonic was, the shape of his quills made him appear slightly taller.  
  
"It all starts with this…" The hedgehog said, idly tossing and catching the green emerald. "…A jewel containing the ultimate power."  
  
"So, the military has mistaken me for the likes of you," Sonic said. It was time to teach this guy a lesson. "Well- say something, you fake!" Sonic launched into an attack. The mysterious hedgehog threw and caught the Chaos Emerald one last time, drawing power from the glowing jewel.  
  
"Chaos control!!" There was a blinding green flash. Sonic blinked-  
  
"Where'd he go?!" There was no sign of the black hedgehog anywhere. Then, Sonic glimpsed a flash of black on his right hand side as the two hedgehogs passed each other in opposite directions. For an instant, green eyes met red as they sized each other up.  
  
Sonic screeched to a halt and turned around in one movement.  
  
"Man… he's fast," he grudgingly admitted, seeing the dark stranger standing on top of the wall that Sonic had crashed into earlier. "He must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp somehow..." Sonic had never seen anyone who could focus the power of the emeralds like that, not when they weren't using the Grey Emerald. Who was this guy?  
  
"My name is Shadow…" He said, as if in answer. "I'm the world's ultimate life form." There was no hint of bragging in Shadow's voice.  
  
"He really believes that," Sonic thought.  
  
There was no doubt in Shadow's mind as to who was superior. So far, this blue hedgehog's abilities seemed less advanced than Shadow's- in other words, not worth bothering with. In any case, Shadow had more important things to do than waste time in the city.  
  
"There's no time for games," He said contemptuously. "Farewell" There was another green flash, and Shadow was gone.  
  
Sonic frowned as the last traces of Chaos energy disappeared. This guy had turned up, stolen the emerald and literally disappeared into thin air right under Sonic's nose, and had got away with it. No ordinary hedgehog could do that. Where had this strange, chaotic creature come from?  
  
"What is he…?" Murmured the dazed Sonic. The only reply was the all too familiar sirens. "Awww, not again," Sonic groaned. He looked up, knowing what he was going to see but hoping against it anyway. "Ugh, it looks like every G.U.N craft in the city is here," he thought, scanning the ring of heavily- armed vehicles all pointing their guns at him. "I'm gonna get Shadow for this," he muttered as he put his hands in the air.  
  
To be continued…  
  
Coming up: Sonic finds himself behind bars, while Robotnik, Shadow and Rouge make plans aboard the ARK. What are they up to?  
  
Find out in part 4- 'Gathering of the Dark' 


	4. Gathering of the Dark

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 4.  
  
"Gathering of the Dark"  
  
By T. Evans.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: Somewhere on Mobius  
  
1 Time: Evening  
  
Knuckles picked his way through the abandoned graveyard, occasionally glancing at his emerald radar. There was another fragment around here somewhere.  
  
"Pumpkin Hill. If that isn't a haunted-sounding name, I don't know what is…" Knuckles had had some experience with ghosts in the Sandopolis Zone, but still didn't want to stick around after dark. "Can't find the emerald pieces if I can't see where I'm going," He lied to himself. Fortunately, the emerald radar was saying that the Master Emerald piece was right over…  
  
There!  
  
Knuckles fished around in the weeds behind a leaning tombstone, and came up with another glowing green shard. Handling it carefully so the sharp edges didn't cut through his gloves, he brushed the dirt off the crystal and put it in the cloth bag he was carrying. The piece tinkled against the twenty- five-or-so other bits that were in there.  
  
"I'm lucky Rouge didn't get here first," Knuckles said. He wondered how many other pieces the bat had found, and was surprised to find himself thinking of where she might be. It wasn't like him to care… but there was something about that girl. Knuckles shook his head.  
  
Suddenly, a glint in the air caught the red echidna's eye. A star? No, the light was too bright, and it was too early in the evening. And stars didn't move slowly across the sky. "A satellite, probably," He shrugged. "Nothing important."  
  
Going back to his search, Knuckles had no idea how important that point of light would prove to be.  
  
* * * *  
  
Meanwhile, on board the ARK space colony…  
  
Robotnik's Egg Walker clanked noisily into Control Room 1(a). The room had been simple enough to find because the ARK had been beautifully designed- even though it was now in disrepair. Robotnik had to admire his grandfather's ingenuity in creating this place. It was obvious where his own genius came from.  
  
This room, at the very centre of the space colony, was half filled with water. Four narrow, metal catwalks lead Robotnik's eyes to a dais in the centre of the room, where his attention was grabbed by an impressive construction. A raised platform formed a base for a ring of computer monitors, tubes and strange machinery that had an almost organic look. Illuminated by the shaft of light rising from the centre of the ring, the apparatus looked a lot like the ancient machines of the Emerald Chamber, except that it was shimmering chrome rather than intricately carved stone.  
  
"I've been waiting for you, Doctor," Shadow said, stepping out from the far side of the emerald shaft. He held a green Chaos Emerald. "Not many people know that the ARK contained a facility for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction." The black hedgehog placed the emerald in the shaft of light. "This-" He indicated the machine, "Is the Eclipse cannon- a laser powerful enough to destroy an entire planet." Shadow ran his hand over a panel, and the complex control systems began to glow and pulse like a living thing- like the heart of ARK itself.  
  
"…Destroy an entire planet…" Robotnik breathed, itching to get his hands on the device.  
  
"But," Shadow continued, "It's been deactivated for some time now. To reactivate it… large amounts of Chaos energy are required."  
  
"So that's why we need the Chaos emeralds," Robotnik said. This was a minor setback, but the reward would be greater than Robotnik could ever have imagined. Shadow nodded.  
  
"…And once the emeralds are collected, the person who controls the cannon will control the world."  
  
"I like the way you think, Shadow! Robotnik laughed. Shadow just watched, showing no hint of a smile.  
  
Of course, Robotnik had no intention of sharing the power the Eclipse cannon would give him. However, he didn't think Shadow was a problem. The hedgehog seemed motivated by revenge alone, not the lust for power Robotnik had always experienced- but what were Shadow's real intentions? Who was using who?  
  
The mad scientist's thoughts were cut short by a voice from above.  
  
"Do you really think it'll be that easy?" Both Robotnik and Shadow looked up to see a female bat hanging from the ceiling. The bat fluttered her wings and drifted down to hover a few feet above them. "I'm Rouge the bat," She smiled. "But you can call me Rouge."  
  
"What?!" Robotnik exclaimed. "How did you get in here?"  
  
"That's not important," She replied. "We could be in a position to help each other." Shadow gave her a semi-interested stare, and Robotnik grunted sceptically.  
  
"Who do you think you are?"  
  
"A treasure hunter, who specialises…" Unexpectedly, Rouge produced a Chaos Emerald from behind her back. "…In all kinds of jewels."  
  
"Ah…" Robotnik said. Perhaps another ally had presented itself. "Perhaps you can be of help. Come! It's time to plan." With that, Robotnik turned his Egg Walker and stomped out of the room. Only two more Chaos Emeralds had to be found before the Eclipse Cannon could be put to work.  
  
As they left, Shadow caught Rouge staring at him. He returned her gaze with a menacing, red-eyed glare.  
  
"What?" He growled.  
  
"Oh… nothing," The bat replied innocently, turning away to hide a smirk. Time for phase two of her mission.  
  
Shadow glanced at her again for a second, and shook his head.  
  
"She's up to something," He thought. "And I'm going to find out what…"  
  
* * * *  
  
2 Chapter 2  
  
Location: Emerald hill Zone, Sonic's base.  
  
Time: I5 hours later  
  
"Oh Sonic… where are you?" Amy moaned, green eyes wide with concern as she paced back and forth. "Sonic's been missing for two days now. Something must have happened!" Tails sat on the nearby couch, also lost in thought and paying no attention to the chattering television in the corner.  
  
"He's probably fine. This is Sonic we're talking about," He reassured the pink hedgehog. "Kintobor says the Chaos Emerald isn't in the Metropolis Zone anymore. Sonic must have found it, no problem." Tails grinned. "He's probably out partying somewhere." Despite his words, Tails was worried about his friend. In his mind there were three possibilities. Sonic might have located a second Chaos Emerald, and gone to track it down. But that wasn't likely, because Sonic would have contacted the others first. That left two options- either Sonic had run into some major trouble, or he was exercising his weird sense of humour again. Tails sighed. It was difficult to think about it with someone talking loudly about Chaos Emeralds.  
  
Chaos Emeralds?!  
  
Tails and Amy's eyes fixed on the TV, which was showing some pictures of the Metropolis Zone.  
  
"…Sonic the Hedgehog has been charged with the theft of the emerald, and is being detained in the maximum-security Prison Island facility…" The announcer continued.  
  
"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed. Tails was equally shocked.  
  
"I know Sonic can be a bit reckless sometimes, but he wouldn't just break in and steal the emerald… would he?" Thought the fox. No, there was no way Sonic would have done that.  
  
"Come on, Amy!" Tails yelled, trying to sound as brave and heroic as possible as he headed for the door. "We have to rescue Sonic!" Amy nodded, grabbed her crossbow and followed Tails to the hangar beneath Tekno's secret lab.  
  
Tails' new plane hadn't been tested yet, but there was no time for that now. A door in the hillside opened, and the Cyclone soared into the distance…  
  
* * * *  
  
In the maximum-security facility on Prison Island, Sonic paced back and forth in his cell.  
  
"I can't believe this. I must be losing my touch or somethin'," He grumbled. "Arrested twice in as many days. And this time the humans didn't take any chances." Sonic remembered the ease of his escape from the helicopter the first time he'd been captured.  
  
He hadn't been so lucky the second time. "I hate to admit it, but those humes aren't as stupid as they look," Sonic thought, rubbing his wrists, which still ached dully. This time, Sonic had spent the entire journey wearing handcuffs designed to give him an electric shock every time he moved, so there had been no chance for Sonic to wriggle free. The guards had removed them when they'd put him in this dungeon, knowing they weren't needed.  
  
For the fiftieth time, Sonic looked around the dingy cell, and his eyes fixed on the shimmering air just beyond the metal bars. Sonic's spin attack could have smashed the bars easily, but the field beyond, insubstantial as a heat haze, was more dangerous than it looked.  
  
When Sonic had been brought here, his Chaos-sense had told him there was a Chaos Emerald somewhere on the island. But since that force field had been activated, Sonic hadn't been able to sense anything at all. Only a powerful electromagnetic field could block Chaos energy like that- the same kind of effect had rendered Super Sonic powerless for several months, and Porker had been able to use it to temporarily neutralise the Chaos creature.  
  
"My own powers are working against me," he scowled. The encounter with Chaos that had turned Sonic's eyes green and allowed him to perform the Lightspeed Attack had also left him dependant on Chaos energy for survival. Earlier, he'd tested his theory by putting his hand through the bars- even touching the field had left him feeling drained for hours. Sonic didn't want to know what it would do to him if he tried to run through it. "I guess I'm stuck here," he sighed, "It's as if the room was designed to keep me in." The electromagnetic field, however, was outside the cell, and enveloped the locking mechanism. "Or out," Sonic added, frowning. "But that doesn't make any sense, this place is so old…" Shaking his head in confusion, Sonic turned his attention to the rest of the cell. The walls, floor and ceiling were solid metal -no escape there. His gaze fell on the writing scrawled on the walls. To ease the boredom, he decided to read it.  
  
Instead of ordinary prison-wall graffiti, it was all technical stuff, design specifications and other things Sonic didn't understand. What wasn't written in techno-speak didn't make sense, like the ravings of a madman.  
  
Something suddenly caught Sonic's eye. It was a signature.  
  
"Dr. Gerald Kintobor," he read. Above that were the words 'project Shadow', and a strange symbol. All the pieces suddenly slotted into place and Sonic's eyes widened in surprise. "No way," he breathed. "Shadow is the special project Dr. Gerald was working on?" Sonic took another look around the cell. "Of course! If Dr. Gerald was locked up here, this cell must have been designed to stop Shadow from rescuing his creator…" Sonic frowned. That had been so long ago. Why had Shadow turned up now, fifty years later? And why hadn't he aged at all? Shaking his head, Sonic thought about how he'd wanted to find out what Dr. Gerald had been working on. Well, now he had his answer. And he didn't like it one bit.  
  
"I wonder what really happened on ARK?"  
  
But that was one question that would have to wait. Sonic's ears pricked up as he heard something big coming his way…  
  
* * * *  
  
3 Chapter 3  
  
Location: Prison Island  
  
Time: a few minutes earlier  
  
"There's something weird going on here," Shade Phoenix said as he guided his hover bike to a landing. Sparky the Chao landed beside it, folding his small wings.  
  
"OK, let's see…" The brown hedgehog dismounted, and looked around at the foreboding metal structures of the old prison, which were in a large clearing in the jungle. "I'm getting a strong signal from a Chaos Emerald over there…" He gazed off in the direction of the military base. "But Sonic's energy has disappeared, like something's blocking it. Hmmm…" Sparky looked up at his friend, and mewed something.  
  
"Don't ask me, Sparks." Shade replied, eyes thoughtful behind his sunglasses. "Could be an electromagnetic field, I suppose. But Sonic's definitely around here somewhere-" Shade words stopped mid-sentence, and he dived for cover behind an old lookout tower.  
  
Three figures slowly began to materialise. The blurred shapes snapped into focus, becoming solid- and Shade could see they were Robotnik in some sort of mechanical walking device, Shadow and some bat girl he'd never seen before. "Looks like Shadow keeps bad company," Shade whispered from his hiding place- now wishing he'd stopped the other hedgehog from stealing the Chaos Emerald. The sinister trio began to talk amongst themselves.  
  
"Coming back wasn't my idea of a good time," Robotnik growled. "Rouge, what makes you think the Chaos Emerald is here?" The bat girl touched a device she wore on her head, which looked like the kind of radio mike you see reporters wearing. Only this one had a green lens that covered one of her eyes.  
  
"I know. Trust me, it's here." Rouge replied.  
  
"We'll find out soon enough," Robotnik nodded. "Here's the plan. Rouge, you sneak into the military base and find the emerald, while Shadow…" Shadow turned slightly, giving Robotnik a sidelong glance. "…Will place these dynamite packs around the island. I'll… er… supervise the mission from here. Then, KABOOM! We escape with the emerald while the island is in, well, chaos." Rouge nodded and took flight as Robotnik reached into his cockpit for a number of small but powerful bombs, which he handed to Shadow.  
  
"Oh, great." Shade muttered, as Sparky began making urgent noises, jumping up and down and pulling on Shade's denim jacket. "Sssh! Do you want them to find us?!" Shade hissed. Sparky just carried on, even louder. "All right, all right! I'll look over there! I… uh oh." Shade had looked. "What are they doing here?"  
  
* * * *  
  
The small blue and yellow aeroplane came in for a landing on the cracked tarmac, as Shadow and Robotnik turned to face it. The streamlined jet was not a biplane, but there was no doubt as to it belonged to because it had 'Tails' painted on the fuselage.  
  
As the engine noise died away, the orange fox pushed a button and the plane began to change shape. The wings retracted, the landing gear lowered and the end result was a walking machine similar to Robotnik's.  
  
Amy Rose squeezed out of the tiny cockpit that she'd been sharing with Tails, and dropped to the ground. The sun was in her eyes, so she squinted to make out the two figures in front of her.  
  
"Sonic?"  
  
Well, who else could that streamlined silhouette belong to? "Oh, Sonic!!" She yelled, putting her arms around the other hedgehog. He brushed her aside, taking a smooth pace backwards. The eyes that met Amy's were cold and unnervingly red. "Wha-? You're not Sonic! Who are you?" Amy scrambled back, embarrassed and scared. Tails' walker took a hesitant step forwards.  
  
"Not so fast, fox," Robotnik growled. The cannon on his machine swivelled to point at Amy. The weapon on the nose of the Cyclone targeted Robotnik. Stalemate!  
  
"Hey Robotnik!!" A voice yelled suddenly. The small group scattered as a speeding, but strangely silent motorbike hurtled into their midst, Robotnik's clumsy walker barely getting out of the way. The bike shot past, screeched around in a tight circle and headed for the mad scientist again. "What're you waiting for, fuzzball?!" Yelled the odd-looking brown hedgehog as his vehicle whipped past Tails. "Get outta here, NOW!" As Robotnik evaded the high-tech Harley for the second time, Shadow recognised the rider.  
  
"You again?" He hissed, giving chase. Both hedgehogs disappeared into the jungle with a crashing of foliage.  
  
With his protection gone, Robotnik's cowardice came into play.  
  
"I'll let you go this time," He snarled, "Next time, you won't be so lucky!" Small jet boosters ignited in the feet of the walker, and it too disappeared into the ocean of trees.  
  
"What was that all about?" Tails said, as the crashing of broken branches receded into the distance. "The guy with the shades looked kinda familiar. I wonder who he was?" Tails shook his head. "But I've never seen that black hedgehog before." Then he laughed. "We should get you some glasses, Amy!" Tails grinned, while Amy glared at him.  
  
"It's not my fault," She sulked. "The sun was in my eyes. Besides, the guy did look like Sonic…" Amy shivered, even though the sun was hot. "But that look in his eyes was … weird. Sad somehow."  
  
"I don't know," Tails said doubtfully. "He just looked crazy to me… and he was with Robotnik."  
  
"Yeah, I guess," Amy replied. "But he's gone now, and we need to rescue Sonic."  
  
Tails' walker turned and strode purposefully into the prison complex, with Amy close behind. They had a job to do…  
  
To be continued…  
  
Tails & Amy break Sonic out of jail, while Rouge gets into trouble. Who will save her before the island explodes?  
  
Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, part 5- 'Jailhouse Rock' 


	5. Jailhouse Rock

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 5.  
  
"Jailhouse Rock"  
  
By T. 'RockChick' Evans.  
  
  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: Somewhere on Prison Island  
  
1 Time: 30 minutes to detonation  
  
2  
  
3 Just outside the jungle, Shadow fixed the last charge of explosives to a large tree. He set the remote timer for half an hour.  
  
In twelve different locations on the island, identical bombs received the signal, and their digital clocks started counting down. Each bomb was compact, small enough to fit in the palm of the hand, but detonated simultaneously they would have enough power to devastate the entire island. The jungle would be consumed in flames, and earthquakes caused by the explosion would destroy the military and prison buildings. And in the resulting bedlam, Shadow, Rouge and Robotnik would escape with the Chaos Emerald.  
  
The black hedgehog braced himself, sensing another flashback coming- this time, the rush of memory was of the first time he had been brought to Prison Island, after his escape pod had been fished out of the sea. He had been allowed to talk briefly with Dr. Gerald, who was also imprisoned. That was when he had first learned of the Eclipse Cannon…  
  
Recovering quickly, Shadow glared at the buildings of the military base, visible in the distance. He thought of the years he had spent trapped there in the cold darkness of cryogenic sleep, before pushing the memory away. He would be glad to see this cursed place destroyed.  
  
But this act was nothing but a taste of things to come. A warning to the people of Mobius that Shadow would have his revenge…  
  
"One more step towards reactivating the Eclipse Cannon…" He said quietly to himself. "And when that is achieved, Maria… you will be avenged."  
  
Although the bombs were set to explode in a short time, Shadow felt no sense of urgency. He could be gone in an instant, if he wanted. However, Shadow suspected, that was not the case for the hedgehog he had chased into the forest. The biker was undoubtedly lost somewhere in the green void, and would be unable to escape in time…  
  
Shadow's thoughts turned to the fox and the pink girl he had encountered a short time earlier. The girl had the same eyes as that blue impostor he'd met in the city… For a second, Shadow wondered if there was any connection. Then he dismissed the thought, because in half an hour it wouldn't matter.  
  
Without giving the matter another thought, Shadow strode into the jungle and melted into the darkness like a phantom.  
  
Those fools had no idea how short a time they had to live…  
  
* * * *  
  
Meanwhile…  
  
Deep in the prison complex, a robot sentry hovered next to a dull metal door, which led to a dark corridor lined with jail cells. Only one of them was occupied at the moment. The robot was not the same model as the machines that guarded the military base and the higher levels of the prison complex- its weapons were just as deadly, but this robot was programmed for one task only. That task was to seek and destroy escapees from beyond the door that its staring sensors were fixed on.  
  
The hovering sentry 'bot, therefore, did not register the large metal shape suddenly looming behind it. One laser bolt later, it was scrap metal.  
  
"Got him!" Tails grinned. "I think that was the last one." Amy looked up at him from where she stood beside the blue and yellow walking machine. The pink hedgehog nodded briefly, before bending down next to the smoking wreckage.  
  
"That rust bucket isn't like any Badnik I've seen before," She said, a little puzzled. "This place must be something to do with that human organisation, G.U.N…and have you seen any people here? I know I haven't."  
  
"No…" Tails replied, thinking for a moment. "This place must be totally automated. It's typical of those humans to get robots to do their work for them." Amy looked a little doubtful.  
  
"They're not all that bad, Tails. Just weird. Me and Tekno went to Earth once, remember?"  
  
"So did Sonic," The fox replied, "And he said they were nothing but trouble."  
  
"And since when did that crazy hog start making sense?" Amy grinned back.  
  
"Ok, good point. Speaking of Sonic…" Tails hit the fire button, and the reinforced door disappeared in a cloud of metallic vapour.  
  
* * * *  
  
"It's about time," Sonic said impatiently, tapping his foot as Tails and Amy arrived outside his cell. He wasn't really annoyed, of course. Sonic was glad to see his friends, but he had a reputation to keep up.  
  
He hated being rescued…  
  
"Hey, nice ride, pixel brain," He said, before anyone could come out with a smart-alec comment about Sonic's predicament. "Where'd you get it?"  
  
"Tekno, Porker and me built it," the young fox replied with pride. "It's my new plane." Sonic looked puzzled; a blue eyebrow raised a little.  
  
"Plane?"  
  
"It transforms," Tails clarified.  
  
"Cool." The hedgehog grinned in reply.  
  
Amy glanced at Sonic. Apart from a partly healed graze on one leg, he seemed fine. The blue hedgehog appeared to hum with impatience- it was clear that he wanted out.  
  
"Sonic?" Amy asked. "You didn't steal the Chaos Emerald… did you?"  
  
"No!" This struck a nerve, because Sonic began to pace back and forth angrily. "I was framed! It was that fake hedgehog, Shadow!"  
  
"You mean that black hedgehog?" Asked Tails, Amy blushing a little with embarrassment as she remembered her earlier encounter with Shadow.  
  
"You saw it? Where did it go?" Sonic demanded.  
  
"He was with Robotnik," Amy told him. "They went into the jungle…" Sonic heard this and frowned.  
  
"Great, I had a feeling Lard Belly would be in on this…" After thinking for a moment, Sonic stepped up to the bars. "We still have a chance to catch him. Are you gonna let me out, or what?"  
  
"Um, Sonic?" Tails said hesitantly, not wanting to embarrass his friend. "Why didn't you get yourself out? I mean, those bars are pretty flimsy." Sonic sighed. He had hoped to avoid that subject…  
  
"There's some kind of electromagnetic field," he admitted grudgingly. "I can't get through it. Now, can we cut the chat and bust this hedgehog out?!"  
  
"Sure," Amy grinned mischievously, "If you agree to marry me…"  
  
"NO WAY!!" Sonic yelled. Amy pretended to be upset.  
  
"Aww, I thought I had you this time." Then she pulled out her crossbow from its holster, and blasted the locking mechanism on the door. It swung open as the electromagnetic force field fizzled out. "There you go, handsome…"  
  
"I could barely move in there," Sonic said, striding out of the cell. "Hey, what're you two laughing at?" Tails and Amy were still sniggering at Amy's remark, as they followed Sonic back the way they had come.  
  
Later, the three animals found themselves wandering around a maze of identical grey corridors.  
  
"This way," Tails indicated as they reached another fork in the corridor.  
  
"Couldn't you just have brought a ball of string?" Sonic interrupted. "This place is boring. And don't try telling me I'm not making sense…"  
  
"Uh… You heard that?" Amy groaned.  
  
"This place isn't sound proofed, you know." Sonic tapped the metal wall with a knuckle- unlike his cell, the wall wasn't very thick and clanged hollowly. Then he grinned wickedly, a familiar but worrying 'I'm-gonna-do- something-reckless' expression spreading rapidly over his features.  
  
"It ain't Sonic proof, either!" Sonic sprinted a short distance down the corridor to build up speed, then leaped into the air and spun sideways into the wall. When the sparks stopped flying, Tails and Amy heard Sonic's voice from inside the large, round hole.  
  
"C'mon guys- We're taking a short cut!"  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Location- Prison Island, military base  
  
4 Time- 15 minutes to detonation  
  
"Why did G.U.N have to find another emerald?" Rouge thought with annoyance. Why did they have to start using this old military base? Rouge was deep in the underground levels of said base. Still, it hadn't been difficult to sneak in, not for someone with her…talents.  
  
Sneak thief, jewel hunter, treasure seeker. Rouge had done it all.  
  
But she had never had a mission like this one before. It was, in essence, completely new and different, but combined a little of all three 'professions'- here, Rouge was in her element. That was why she had been chosen for this little 'job'.  
  
Because she was the best…  
  
Rouge smiled at the thought, before turning back to the matter at hand. Which was: the Chaos Emerald. Of course, the emerald was nothing but a piece in the puzzle, part of the bigger picture. As was Robotnik.  
  
Rouge's real mission was far more important and dangerous… and in her mind, that simply meant 'far more well-paid'.  
  
Rouge came to an intersection in the corridor. She stopped, green eyes scanning for danger. Nothing yet. Her breath made puffs of steam in the cold air- you don't need central heating in a base manned by robots- as she checked her treasure scope.  
  
The translucent green lens slid into place over the bat's right eye, lighting up with a stream of text. Then it locked on to the emerald's energy.  
  
An arrow appeared: it indicated left. Rouge pushed a button on her headpiece and the lens retracted, then she started off down the left passageway.  
  
Seconds later, she stopped, her foot poised in mid air. A thin red line of light shimmered just above floor level, stretching from one wall to the other; similar beams were visible every few feet down the corridor. She had nearly broken this one. But not quite.  
  
"Laser-activated alarms?!" She exclaimed. "Is that all?" Rouge unfurled her black wings, and flapped easily to the ceiling. "What do they take me for, an amateur?"  
  
Rouge fluttered down the corridor, safely above the crimson beams. From her viewpoint, they looked like angry red slashes… red, like blood. Like…Knuckles.  
  
Why was she thinking about him, now? Rouge banished the errant thought from her mind, and floated deeper into the base. She mentally congratulated herself that she had spotted this hazard in time.  
  
A lesser person would probably have 'put his foot in it'…  
  
* * * *  
  
"Sonic, you really put your foot in it this time!!" Amy yelled, as the three Mobians dodged another fighter plane. "You could try to look where you're going, for once!" They'd made it out of the prison, only to face an army of G.U.N 'bots…  
  
"How was I supposed to know this place was alarmed?" Sonic yelled indignantly. He was running up front, carrying Amy. "Tails, can't you make that thing go any faster??" Sonic shouted over his shoulder. Tails swung the cumbersome Cyclone around, aiming his main cannon at another aerial combatant. The first shot went wide, the second nailed the machine in the cockpit. It exploded in a bright flare.  
  
Smiling at the display, Sonic dived behind a stack of iron crates to avoid another missile. He spotted a small shed behind him, a smirk forming as he spotted the rusted warning sign on the open door:  
  
CAUTION: LIVE AMMUNITION  
  
"Tails! Follow me!" Sonic called, shooting towards the ammo shed. Spotting the sign, Amy's eyes widened.  
  
If one of the enemy's shots hit that building, it would explode.  
  
And Sonic was heading straight for it.  
  
"Sonic! What're you doing?!" She shrieked. "You're crazy!"  
  
Sonic's eyes gleamed. He had 'that' look on his face again…  
  
"I know…" He grinned. Tails hesitated a second. He looked at the swarm of jet robots blocking out the sun. The fox calculated the odds in his mind, didn't like the answer, and followed Sonic.  
  
The Cyclone walker barely fit through the door, which Sonic slammed as soon as the fox was through.  
  
"Okay, now what?" Tails said.  
  
"Well…" Sonic said, peering through the grimy window. "If these things aren't as stupid as your basic badnik, we're safe."  
  
"And if they are?" Amy asked grimly. Sonic gazed around the inside of the shed. His emerald eyes drifted over stacked crates, labelled T.N.T.  
  
"Ka-boom," Sonic replied, equally grim.  
  
The three animals waited in growing suspense. Outside, the swarm of robots came closer… and stopped. They milled around uncertainly. "See? What did I tell you?" Sonic pointed out the window. "If those flying scrapheaps send a missile in here, they'll take out the whole complex as well as us. And they know it." The hedgehog grinned. It had worked!  
  
But the last thing he expected was a punch in the head from Amy…  
  
"Oww!!" Sonic yelled, grabbing his face.  
  
"Amy, what—" Tails gasped.  
  
"Sonic, that was totally stupid!" the female hedgehog snapped angrily. "You could've got us all killed because you had a dumb hunch!" She stood with her fists clenched, a picture of fury. Sonic briefly lost his composure, and found himself backing off.  
  
She was right.  
  
He had put his friends in danger yet again. Sonic had been acting on instinct, acting like a kid again, and he hadn't even stopped to think about what might happen…  
  
Acting like that had got Johnny killed.  
  
"Amy… you're right. I… I'm sorry…" Sonic said, turning away.  
  
Seeing his look of utter misery, Amy's fury at Sonic drained away. Now she was angry at herself. A few years ago, he would never have reacted that way, but Johnny's death had changed him…  
  
Sonic was still healing, she realised, and Amy had come close to destroying his fragile confidence.  
  
"I can't stay angry at you," she said gently, knowing she had to put things right. "Besides, that was a cool idea."  
  
"Yeah… it was, wasn't it?" Sonic replied, brightening a little. Tails, catching on, also chimed in.  
  
"I don't think anyone else could have come up with a plan that cool."  
  
Flattery, with Sonic, could get you anywhere.  
  
"What do you expect, pixel brain?" he said, smiling, "I'm Sonic the hedgehog, and cool is my business!" Sonic seemed back to his old self. Amy and Tails shot a triumphant glance at each other. They would have to remember to be more careful with Sonic from now on…  
  
"Yup, you're a genius," Amy said. "And even better, you're a cute genius!" She unexpectedly hugged him, and Sonic protested loudly until she let go. "Don't struggle, you're too flipping sharp…" Amy complained.  
  
"What didya expect, feathers?"  
  
"Okay, genius-" Tails said, casting a worried glance outside. "What's the plan now?"  
  
"Hmmm…" Sonic examined Tails' walker. "Could this contraption out-fly those tin can outside?"  
  
"Yeah… probably," Tails said hesitantly. "It's a bit slow in walk mode, but in plane mode it can outrun just about anything." Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Er, except you of course," Tails added quickly.  
  
"Good…" Sonic nodded. "I'll make a distraction, while you guys get out of here. Got it?"  
  
"But, Sonic!" Amy gasped. "We came to rescue you, if you think we're gonna leave without you…"  
  
"Amy, shut up." Sonic interrupted. "I've got some business to take care of first. Namely, the Chaos Emerald. And I've got a spin attack with Shadow's name on it…"  
  
"Chaos Emerald?" Tails asked, puzzled.  
  
"I'll explain later!" Sonic said, on his way to the door. There was no stopping him now.  
  
Within seconds, several robots were chasing a blue hedgehog towards the jungle- where they stopped, unable to follow.  
  
At the same moment, a blue and yellow plane ploughed through the wall of an ammo shed, and soared unimpeded into the blue sky…  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location: Prison Island military base  
  
Time: 10 minutes to detonation  
  
"Now what?" Rouge thought to herself, as she hung upside down from the ceiling. She'd made it into the room where the Chaos Emerald was being kept. The only problem was, it was surrounded by humanoid guard robots…  
  
"And I thought I was lucky I didn't meet any of those guys earlier." Rouge mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. All the robots were guarding the emerald, of course…  
  
Out of sight, Rouge carefully made her way over to the centre of the room, using joints and rivets in the metal ceiling for handholds. She was a bat, so this came naturally to her. Soon she was directly above the Chaos Emerald, which glowed a savage orange colour. The robots all faced away from the emerald, forming a perfect circle… their sensors covering every direction except up.  
  
"Stupid robots," Thought Rouge. "But not as stupid as the ones who programmed them. Those humans only think in terms of their own kind…" with that, Rouge dropped into the centre of the circle, grabbing the emerald in both hands and flapping away above the robots' heads. Glowing mechanical eyes swivelled in her direction- but the machines had not expected an attack from above, and it took a few moments for them to charge their weapons.  
  
By then, Rouge was out of there.  
  
Pursued by robots, the bat girl flew swiftly through the corridors with the emerald clutched tightly in her arms. She was just as thrilled by its beauty as she had been when she had first seen the other emeralds- especially that big green one. Rouge liked the way they glowed unlike any other jewel, and seemed to vibrate with a strange energy- an energy that felt a little like static electricity when she touched them.  
  
Her thoughts were suddenly shattered by a loud, screaming siren. The base had been alerted to her presence.  
  
As automatic defences activated, doors everywhere began to slide shut.  
  
"Uh oh!" Reacting quickly, the bat dived through the nearest entrance. The thick, steel door slammed shut behind her, missing the tips of her wings by inches. It was dark here, but Rouge's kind were nocturnal and her eyes adjusted quickly to the dim light. With the emerald tucked under one arm, Rouge landed on the cool metal floor- looking around she saw she was in a small room. It was bare, and the air smelled a little musty.  
  
"Oh, no." Rouge groaned, as she realised her mistake. "How did I end up in the broom cupboard?!" Feeling uneasy, Rouge pushed back her lilac and white glove. The numbers on her communicator watch glowed a soft green.  
  
07: 59….58….57…56….  
  
Rouge shook her head. Her eyes flitted around the small chamber, and she hoped she could get out in time.  
  
* * * *  
  
Meanwhile, somewhere in the jungle…  
  
Sonic irritably brushed a fern away from his face, and strode deeper into the green forest. There was a fine, misty drizzle in the air, and small beads of water clung to his short blue fur. He was rapidly going from 'damp' to 'soaked', and it annoyed him to no end.  
  
Sonic had left the G.U.N robots behind. Safe in the jungle, he had heard Tails' plane leave, and now faced a long trek to where the Chaos Emerald was. The trees were far too dense to make running an option, as Sonic would have no room to manoeuvre. The hedgehog sighed.  
  
"No one ever said this was gonna be easy."  
  
Suddenly, Sonic stopped in his tracks and looked sharply to the left. For a second, his eyes took on a far-away look, then his features settled into a frown of determination.  
  
"Shadow," he growled. He would know that energy trace anywhere.  
  
Sonic turned and headed in that direction. Unexpectedly, he emerged into an open space- a huge tree had once stood there, but had fallen and left a large clearing in its place. The carcass of the tree stretched off into the jungle, its trunk over four metres wide, its roots and branches pointing at the sky.  
  
Perched on the tree trunk was Shadow the hedgehog. From his superior vantage point, he glared down at Sonic.  
  
"That blue hedgehog again…" he muttered, "Here, of all places."  
  
"Fancy seeing you here, faker…" Sonic retorted. Shadow replied with a look of utter contempt.  
  
"Faker? I think you're the fake hedgehog around here. In fact…" he looked at Sonic as if judging him. "…You're not even good enough to be my fake."  
  
Sonic was outraged. No-one talked down to him like that. Shadow had dismissed him as if he was nothing… and that was something Sonic would not and could not put up with. Especially since Shadow had already got the better of him, twice.  
  
"I'll make you eat those words," he snarled. Shadow regarded him with a bored kind of curiosity. He checked his watch. That enraged Sonic even more- it was as if the black hedgehog was saying- you're not worth my time.  
  
In one fluid movement, Shadow leaped down from the tree and landed lightly on his feet, a couple of metres away from Sonic.  
  
"Is that," he said softly, "A challenge?"  
  
"You bet it is," Sonic replied dangerously, infuriated at how calm Shadow seemed. He was… toying with him.  
  
On that count, Sonic was correct. Shadow could escape at any time… seconds before the explosion, if that was what he wanted. Sonic could not.  
  
Shadow allowed the blue hedgehog to make the first move.  
  
Sonic, angered by the black hedgehog's strange confidence, launched a powerful spin attack in Shadow's direction.  
  
He wasn't there anymore.  
  
"Chaos Control! I forgot-" Sonic thought belatedly, as Shadow's fist connected with his back…  
  
The blow, which impacted between the two spikes that emerged at his shoulder blades, would have knocked Sonic to the ground. If the punch to the head hadn't done so first.  
  
"Ughh… he's so damn fast…" Sonic groaned, painfully picking himself up. Pain exploded in his head, and for a moment he saw double. After a few moments, his head cleared- leaving a throbbing headache and a sharp ache in his back.  
  
Shadow stood casually on the other side of the clearing. He nodded his head almost imperceptibly: bring it on.  
  
Sonic did so. As he sped across the leaf litter, his mind raced in time with his legs. He should treat this fight like he would a fight with Metallix…  
  
"Get him from behind or the side… no use attacking from a distance, he's too fast—" Sonic ran various tactics through his mind, trying to find something…anything… that would work-  
  
At the last second, Shadow leaped into the air and tried to hit Sonic with a spin attack, but the blue hedgehog dodged and the two adversaries found themselves running side by side. Sonic tried to observe how Shadow moved. Like he was ice skating…. "His energy level increases when he does that," Sonic noticed. "He must be using Chaos energy to help him… how can he control it like that?!" Sonic thought morbidly that this wasn't like fighting Metallix at all. It was more like battling Super Sonic… Sonic frowned. He had to admit it- Shadow's method of moving was more efficient than his own. That meant he would tire less quickly…  
  
They had reached the dead tree, now. Sonic wrenched himself to the right to avoid a collision. Shadow ran up the tree trunk, and flipped over to land on his feet back in the clearing. Both hedgehogs then came to a halt.  
  
"Good," Sonic thought. "That weird way of running may be more efficient-" -Sonic wouldn't admit to 'faster', although he suspected it- "But it isn't as good on corners. That's some advantage at least." It hadn't stopped Shadow from pounding him though, Sonic thought, as a new wave of pain assailed his head. And the black hedgehog didn't have a scratch on him.  
  
Sonic decided to do something about that.  
  
This time, Shadow was on the offensive. He came at Sonic like a dark bullet, while the blue hedgehog managed to get out of the way. Shadow whirled, fists raised. Sonic swung a punch of his own, and missed as Shadow ducked. Sonic managed to keep his balance, and decided on a new tactic. He lifted a fist again, but this time it was only a feint.  
  
Years of fighting badniks had given Sonic a strong punch. His real power, however, was in his legs…  
  
Expecting a blow to the head, Shadow didn't see the kick coming. Sonic's foot lashed out and made a solid thud against Shadow's chest, knocking him back and causing him to grunt and double over. Sonic got out of the way, not quite knowing what to expect next.  
  
From opposite ends of the clearing, the two opponents stared at each other.  
  
End of round one. The result: a draw.  
  
Shadow straightened, his eyes glinting ominously. He coughed once, before quickly recovering.  
  
"Not bad, blue hedgehog," He said, slightly breathless. Sonic grinned, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand; a small streak of crimson stained the white glove.  
  
"Not bad yourself," Sonic replied. His heart hammered, while his headache pounded its own rhythm. "But admit it, Stripe. You're no match for me."  
  
"We'll see," Shadow shot back. This was… interesting. At last, a challenge.  
  
Sonic dropped back into his fighting stance. Shadow did likewise, but the two were interrupted by some commotion in the trees to their left.  
  
There was a flash of chrome. An old fashioned motorbike hurtled into the clearing, the complex machinery at the back marking it as something unusual. It came to a stop between the two hedgehogs. Moments later, a green Chao emerged from the foliage.  
  
"What're you doing??" The rider exclaimed. He was a hedgehog, slightly odd-looking, with shades and a denim jacket. "There's no time for this!" The fact that Shadow knew him was obvious.  
  
"You again?"  
  
"Friend of yours, Stripe?" Sonic eyed the biker with suspicion. Something about him just wasn't right. He was… familiar somehow, and Sonic's instincts told him not to trust the guy.  
  
Before anyone could say anything more, there was a loud static crackle from Shadow's direction. He glanced at the device Sonic had thought was a watch. A tinny voice came from it.  
  
The voice was Robotnik's.  
  
"Shadow, Rouge! Get back to base, now! The island is going to blow up with you on it! You've got one minute!"  
  
"Blow up?!" Sonic exclaimed. Beside him, the strange biker rolled his eyes.  
  
"That's what I was trying to tell you…" He said, exasperated. Then another voice came from the communicator.  
  
"I have… a small problem," it said. The voice was female, and Sonic didn't recognise it. "I'm trapped in a room with a Chaos Emerald… can't get out in time." A look of displeasure crossed Shadow's face. Then he was gone into the trees, faster than lightning.  
  
* * * *  
  
Shadow tapped into his reserve of Chaos Energy, about to teleport himself to ARK. It was too bad about Rouge, she could have been useful… even if she had been up to something. Shadow assumed that the Chaos Emerald would survive the explosion, even if she did not. He could always go back and retrieve it later.  
  
Suddenly, however, something stopped him. Something in Rouge's voice. Something that reminded him of… Maria.  
  
Shadow had not been able to save her. He had escaped, while she had died alone, abandoned….  
  
Shadow was once again assailed by memories, and leaned against a tree for support. He would not let it happen again!  
  
Never again…  
  
The black hedgehog felt a strange emotion, one he hadn't felt in a very long time. Fear. He quickly checked his communicator watch- ten seconds left!  
  
There was no time! He didn't even know where Rouge was. He couldn't use Chaos Control if he didn't know the destination…  
  
"The Chaos Emerald!" He exclaimed suddenly. His sharp senses homed in on its energy, and he disappeared- knowing how dangerous it could be to warp out without preparation. He might not reappear. But Shadow wasn't thinking clearly…  
  
Meanwhile, in the military base, Rouge was resigned to her fate. Suddenly, however, a green glow appeared in the corner of the room. Rouge had barely enough time to exclaim "Wha-?" before a black and red missile knocked her off her feet. Within a quarter of a second, Rouge, Shadow and the Chaos Emerald were gone, as if they had never been there at all.  
  
The timer read 0:00…  
  
To be continued….  
  
Next: Did Shade Phoenix and Sonic get off the island in time?  
  
If not, who will stop Robotnik when he proclaims his new empire?  
  
Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 6:  
  
"An Eclipse of the Moon" 


	6. Eclipse of the Moon

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 6.  
  
"An Eclipse of the Moon"  
  
By Thalia 'RockChick' Evans.  
  
  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: Above Prison Island  
  
1 Time: 3 seconds to detonation  
  
A small blue plane drifted between the island and the clouds. A vivid orange fox piloted the craft, while a pink hedgehog with green eyes was squashed into the cockpit behind him. Below them, Prison Island seemed strangely tranquil…  
  
The peace would not last for long.  
  
Suddenly, several small explosions erupted over the island, multiplying and expanding until the whole place was a mass of flame!  
  
Debris was hurled into the air, varying in size from small clods of earth to huge trees and boulders. A great mushroom of smoke rose high into the atmosphere, where it would remain to block out the sun for several days. Then came the sound, a deafening roar, and a shockwave that nearly knocked the small plane out of the air.  
  
In the cockpit, Tails fought the controls. The turbulence was almost too much, but he was a good pilot and soon had the plane under some semblance of control. A new thought occupied his mind now.  
  
"Sonic… oh no…" His friend was down there.  
  
"Tails, Do you think he...?" Amy whispered from behind him. She was in a state of shock, and Tails could do nothing but shake his head. He was usually optimistic, but this…  
  
"Nothing could survive that…" Tails had heard those words spoken many times before, usually referring to a very desperate situation of the 'Super Sonic' variety.  
  
But Super Sonic was gone…  
  
"Oh, no," Tails said again, unable to find any other words. Suddenly, however, Amy tapped him on an orange-furred shoulder.  
  
"Tails, what's that?"  
  
* * * *  
  
Deep in the smoke cloud, the hover bike made another sharp turn to avoid a large chunk of flying debris, then ploughed through a cloud of hot ash. Sonic squeezed his large eyes shut to avoid the stinging particles, and grimly hung on to the back of the vehicle.  
  
Clear of the flaming cinders, Sonic looked at the figure hunched over the handlebars in front.  
  
Rescued twice in one day. Man…  
  
Suddenly, a mass of burning tree loomed ahead, and the bike made yet another wrenching change of direction. The movement was so quick that the green Chao almost lost its' grip on the brown hedgehog's head quills.  
  
Sonic had to admit it, though- this guy's reflexes were fast… very fast. And he had turned up at exactly the right moment. That was strange in itself, but what was it about the dude that made Sonic so… uneasy?  
  
The biker looked over his shoulder. Blue tinted shades protected his eyes.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"Sure," Sonic replied through gritted teeth.  
  
Rescued twice in one day! And he hadn't got the Chaos Emerald. And, to make matters worse, both Robotnik and Shadow had escaped- he knew that, as there was now no trace of the energy signatures belonging to Shadow or the Chaos Emerald.  
  
And Sonic had definitely come out the worse for wear after that fight in the jungle…  
  
"No way, that creep got lucky," Sonic muttered. "And I got a shot in, too. Ol' Stripes is gonna be hurting for weeks…" Sonic allowed himself a small, tight smile at that. Shadow wouldn't forget about that battle in a hurry… of course, neither would Sonic. If he hadn't been hanging on for dear life, he would have touched the throbbing bruise on his head. It must be an impressive colour by now, he thought- as was the slightly worse one on his back.  
  
"Hey Sonic-" the biker said, interrupting the other hedgehog's thoughts. "Better get your head down, we're heading out of here…"  
  
Sonic did so, as they passed through another patch of smouldering ash.  
  
"What I wouldn't give for a pair of those shades right now," He thought to himself, grimacing as he felt sparks singe his fur. He must look a real mess by now-  
  
The bike suddenly emerged into clear air, swinging around for a better look at the devastation below. There was nothing left down there except flaming ruins… the forest, the buildings, everything was gone. "Whoa," Sonic gasped. The biker hedgehog shook his head sadly.  
  
"All that destruction… and for no reason at all."  
  
"Yeah," Sonic agreed. "But I don't think there was anyone living there." Sonic's rescuer nodded slightly.  
  
"Still…" The moment of reflection ended as Sonic heard someone calling his name. He turned, to see the Cyclone heading his way, Tails piloting and Amy waving from the cockpit.  
  
"Well," Sonic grinned, "Look who's come to join the party."  
  
* * * *  
  
Later, back at the Emerald Hill Zone base…  
  
"Argh! Gerroff me!" Sonic yelled, pushing Amy's hands away from his face.  
  
"Don't be such a baby- I'm only taking a look," Amy chided, peering at the black eye that was beginning to show on his face. "That's one heck of a shiner- what did you do, run into a tree?"  
  
"Somethin' like that," Sonic muttered. He sat down on the couch, and yelped involuntarily as a jab of pain lanced up his back. He shot a glance at Amy, sighing as he saw that she had noticed.  
  
"Get up, let me see," She commanded.  
  
"Jeez, will you stop fussing? It's nothing!" Sonic griped, as Amy peered at the injury to Sonic's back. She winced at the purple bruising visible under the blue fur.  
  
"It doesn't look like nothing," She said, concerned. "Maybe I should put a bandage on that…" Sonic replied only with a scowl. He was being very sensitive about this- more than usual, even…  
  
"Shadow, huh?" Amy said gently, sensing the cause of Sonic's bad mood. The frown deepened- a definite affirmative.  
  
Amy nodded wisely to herself. It was best to change the subject, even though she was concerned. This Shadow… he must have real power, if he could do so much damage to the lightning-fast Sonic.  
  
"Sonic, who do you think that biker was? I'm sure I've seen him before somewhere."  
  
"Hmmm…" Sonic replied, with an expression of puzzlement. He looked back on the conversation they had had, shortly after arriving back at the Emerald Hill Zone.  
  
"It's time I left," The golden-brown hedgehog had said, mere moments after the bike had come to a landing and Sonic had dismounted.  
  
"Wait a minute," Sonic replied, getting his first good look at him. The biker had the same athletic build as Sonic, but may have been slightly thinner- although it was difficult to tell due to the blue denim jacket he was wearing. His features were maddeningly familiar, but were obscured by the blue shades and the spiny quiff that hung over his face. Although his eyes were partly hidden, Sonic could not meet his gaze for long- there was something unnerving about those eyes.  
  
"Hey, have we met?" Sonic asked, puzzled.  
  
"You wouldn't remember me," The other replied simply, grinning as if at some private joke. His voice too was familiar, but again Sonic could not place it. Perhaps he was one of the Emerald Hill folk, Sonic thought, asking him.  
  
The only reply was that infuriating, knowing smile. The hedgehog then turned his bike to leave.  
  
"One more thing," He called over his shoulder. "Shadow isn't what he seems. Don't judge him too quickly, Sonic!" The bike began to rise into the air. Bewildered, Sonic called to the mysterious hedgehog one last time-  
  
"Hey, guy! Who the heck are you?!"  
  
"They call me Phoenix," came the distant reply. "Or Shade. Take your pick!"  
  
"Shade Phoenix, huh?" Sonic murmured. "One day I'll find out your real name…" Then Sonic turned, shaking his head, and went inside.  
  
"He calls himself Shade," Sonic told Amy. "I don't trust the guy. We don't know what his motives are…"  
  
"He did save your life, though," Amy pointed out. "And he helped me and Tails, too. I think it's fair to assume that he's on our side."  
  
"I suppose," Sonic agreed reluctantly. "I wonder what Shade meant about Shadow. That black hedgehog seemed like an all-round bad egg to me…"  
  
Amy frowned, wondering if Sonic was right. It was true that Shadow was working for Robotnik, but something just didn't fit…  
  
"I wonder what he's up to," The pink hedgehog said quietly to herself.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Location: The space colony ARK  
  
2 Time: Fifty years earlier  
  
The blue planet turned lazily in space. White cloud swirled its surface, and on the distant, curved horizon, the sun was beginning to set.  
  
Those who watched this spectacle were separated from it by the airless vacuum of space, and the reinforced viewing window of ARK. In reality, the division was far greater than that.  
  
Shadow turned his eyes away from the view, and glanced to his left. The girl standing there was as different to him as he could possibly imagine. She was human and had been born naturally. Shadow fitted into neither category…  
  
Yet somehow, they had become friends.  
  
She was the only one who didn't treat him like some kind of scientific curiosity.  
  
"Isn't that what I am?" Shadow thought.  
  
No, it was more than friendship. Maria was… almost family.  
  
"How could I know what that word means?" He said to himself. There were so many questions, and so few answers…  
  
"I just don't know anything anymore…" Shadow said aloud. "I'm not even sure who I really am." The question, of course, was not 'who', but 'why'. There had to be some meaning behind Shadow's existence. A purpose. Something…  
  
Maria Kintobor turned blue eyes towards the black hedgehog, and said nothing. Shadow sighed, and resumed gazing out of the window. If she didn't understand either… well, at least he had someone to talk to. There was silence for a minute or so; then Maria spoke.  
  
"Shadow, what do you think it's like down there on Mobius?" Unlike Shadow, she had been down to the planet's surface, but Maria had been too young to remember.  
  
Perhaps, Shadow thought, they were not so different after all…  
  
"Dr. Gerald once told me, his life's work was dedicated to helping the people on that planet," He answered hesitantly, briefly wondering if he was a part of that plan. "Perhaps if I go down there, I'll find my answers…"  
  
Thoughtfully, the pair turned and contemplated the view in silence.  
  
* * * *  
  
Fifty years later, the view remained the same. But now Shadow was alone… utterly alone. His eyes flicked to the left. There was nothing there, except perhaps for ghosts…  
  
The view was as beautiful as ever, but Shadow could no longer appreciate it. He knew now what the people down there were like.  
  
He had found his answers.  
  
He had found his purpose.  
  
He would make them pay.  
  
3 But…  
  
The feeling of doubt surprised him. Why did he suddenly feel so unsure?  
  
4 His life's work… helping the people of that planet…  
  
He had saved Rouge's life, and again, the question arose. Why?  
  
Why had he risked his life to save hers, when she was expendable? Was it because of his memories of Maria? Or because it had simply felt right to do so?  
  
Instead of doing what he thought he should, Shadow had acted on what his heart was telling him…  
  
Shadow almost smiled at that. Did he even have a heart?  
  
At that, Shadow's hand went to his chest. He showed no outward sign of pain, but inwardly he winced. The injury was minor and would heal quickly, but that was not the point…  
  
That blue hedgehog….he was another problem that had to be dealt with. The impostor had escaped the inferno, of course. The ARK's sensors had detected the two small craft leaving the island.  
  
Shadow had underestimated his abilities… or was it just his determination? He even felt a small stab of envy towards the blue one, although he would not consciously admit it. The blue hedgehog seemed to know who he was and why he was there… which was more than Shadow could say.  
  
"What are you..." He wondered.  
  
"Why so melancholy?" Someone said suddenly. Shadow turned to see that Rouge had entered the room, without him noticing. He felt a vague anger at himself. He should never allow himself to get caught out like that…and this was the second time.  
  
"It was so unlike you, Shadow, to come and rescue me like that…" The bat continued. "I have to admit, though, your ability to use Chaos Control sure comes in handy."  
  
Did she expect thanks?! No chance.  
  
"Huh, I was just saving the Chaos Emerald. Not you," The hedgehog said dismissively. Rouge fixed him with a piercing gaze. Her voice took on a thoughtful tone.  
  
"But that's not the whole story, is it?" Shadow's eyes narrowed; then he looked away.  
  
No, he thought. It was not.  
  
The moment of tense silence came to an end as the round figure of Robotnik appeared in the door.  
  
"It's time," He grinned evilly. Shadow pushed his doubts to the back of his mind. Finally, he thought, the time was at hand. Vengeance would soon be his. With five emeralds in their possession, they had enough Chaos energy to put their plan into motion…  
  
"Let's get this show on the road."  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location: Emerald Hill Zone  
  
5 Time: 8.00pm  
  
"Sonic, will you please stop pacing?" Tails said, as Sonic got in front of the TV again. "I'm trying to watch the news."  
  
Sonic was, as usual, impatient. It was made worse by the fact that he'd been in a bad mood to begin with- he didn't like the thought of sitting around all day doing nothing, especially when Robotnik and Shadow were still at large. Not knowing what to do next, the others had been watching news broadcasts about the prison island explosion, while they waited for the Kintobor Computer to come up with something.  
  
He hadn't come up with anything yet.  
  
"Sonic, why don't you just get some rest or something," Sighed an annoyed Amy. "We just have to wait until Dr. Kintobor finds out where Robotnik is, then we can put a stop to… well, whatever it is that he's doing." Sonic frowned at her.  
  
"Hang on. Robotnik has just blown up an entire island, and now he's out there somewhere with goodness knows how many Chaos Emeralds and a guy who could eat Metallix for breakfast, and you're telling me to get some rest??" Sonic paused, bristling. "Have I missed something?!"  
  
Amy just sighed again. There was no point trying to get through to him. An angry Sonic, she knew, was a stubborn Sonic. Porker, sitting next to her on the couch, just shrugged.  
  
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Sonic ripped it open.  
  
"NOW WHAT??"  
  
Knuckles was visible in the semi-darkness outside, silhouetted against the full moon. He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Someone got out the wrong side of bed this morning."  
  
"Oh, hi Red…"  
  
* * * *  
  
Some time later, the gang had explained to the echidna what had been going on while he'd been away. When they had finished, Knuckles nodded.  
  
"That explains why Sonic looks like he ran into a wall," he said devilishly. Sonic gave him a deadly stare.  
  
"Don't rub it in," snarled the hedgehog. But after a few moments, Sonic turned to more important matters.  
  
"You found some Chaos Emeralds." It was a statement, not a question- there was a lot of energy coming from the cloth bag Knuckles was carrying on his shoulder.  
  
"Not exactly," said the red echidna, emptying the contents onto the table.  
  
Sonic, Tails, Amy and Porker gazed at the shattered remains of the Master Emerald. With them was an intact emerald, smaller and sapphire blue in colour.  
  
"Looks like you haven't had much luck either," Tails observed. "What happened?" Knuckles shrugged confusedly.  
  
"I'm not sure. Robotnik tried to steal the Master Emerald, but then it just shattered. I don't know why." Porker thoughtfully examined the shards.  
  
"If the energy hasn't dissipated, you may be able to put it back together," He said. The pig had spent a lot of time studying Chaos energy, so was able to reassure Knuckles. The echidna nodded; he had thought of the same thing.  
  
"That was the plan, but I only have about half the pieces. I'm guessing that bat girl, Rouge, has the rest."  
  
"Rouge?" Sonic said thoughtfully. "I heard Robotnik mention her just before Prison Island blew up." Knuckles opened his mouth to say something, then stopped, an expression of surprise on his face. The others followed his gaze towards the television.  
  
"Robotnik," Sonic growled.  
  
Picking up the remote control, Tails flicked through the channels. The image of the mad scientist remained on screen.  
  
"It's on all the channels," the fox exclaimed. "This transmission is being shown all over the planet…" Then everyone fell silent as Robotnik spoke.  
  
"Citizens of Mobius," He grinned evilly. "Prepare to witness the formation of the greatest empire of all time… the Robotnik Empire!"  
  
"Not a chance, lard belly," Sonic hissed, fully aware that Robotnik couldn't hear him. Then he turned and yelled up the stairs into the control room. "Hey Kintobor! Put a trace on this thing, I want to know where it's coming from!"  
  
"I'll get right on it!" The digitised scientist called down. Sonic looked back towards the TV, where Robotnik's speech continued.  
  
"…And for any zone that would even consider not bowing down before me, here is a little…demonstration of the fate that awaits you!" The camera then panned to show a window, with a view of outer space and a planet turning lazily below.  
  
"Sonic, you'd better come look at this!" Amy stammered from by the window. He looked outside, eyes widening, then rushed to the door. The others stared at each other for a second, then followed him.  
  
Outside, an unusually bright star grew into a glowing disc, rivalling the moon for brightness.  
  
And unseen by the Freedom Fighters, but watched by millions of others across the planet, the moon swung into view on the television screen…  
  
* * * *  
  
The ARK space colony was about half the size of Mobius' moon, and resembled a small planetoid. It even had its' own thin atmosphere, provided by 41st century technology in order to make repairs easier. The surface, however, was barren- the real space station was inside. The illusion of a natural satellite was perfect except for a line that bisected the ARK into two halves- one half being empty cargo space, the other containing the space colony itself.  
  
The dark line started to glow with a blue light. The cargo section suddenly disintegrated and exploded into space, revealing something that looked nothing less than an inverted city- metallic skyscrapers pointed downwards, ringed with lights, and in the centre a conical tower projected into space.  
  
The cone slowly began to open like a flower. Inside, a fierce blue-white light pulsed…  
  
Then, it was over.  
  
* * * *  
  
Millions gasped in horror as the sky exploded into a firestorm of light. The glare was visible even in daylight; in the darkness of the Emerald Hill Zone, it was blinding. The light lasted no more than a second or two before fading back to darkness.  
  
Sonic blinked rapidly to clear his vision. The others were standing around in shock, blinking or shaking their heads.  
  
"Is everyone all right?" He said, somewhat unsteadily.  
  
"Yeah…but what was that?" Knuckles breathed. Porker peeked nervously around the doorway, while Amy and Tails stared up at the night sky.  
  
"Whoa…" Said Amy, incredulously.  
  
Half the moon was gone. There was just a huge, glowing crater.  
  
From behind them, the sound of maniacal laughter issued from the TV speakers.  
  
"He's… insane…" Sonic hissed, taking a step back. "It's like the Death Egg all over again."  
  
"Only worse," Knuckles added grimly. "We have to stop that cannon!"  
  
Porker frowned, deep in thought.  
  
"That… that had to have come from ARK." He stammered. Sonic nodded in agreement, finally knowing what Robotnik had been up to.  
  
"Well, now we know why he was after the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic looked up at the bright star that they now knew was ARK. It was time to put a stop to this, he thought.  
  
It was time for Sonic to do his hero thing…  
  
"Doc K!" Sonic called as he rushed up the stairs, his friends close behind. "That transmission came from ARK, right?"  
  
"Yes, originally," The Kintobor computer answered. "But the broadcast was being relayed through a transmitter in the desert, outside the Metropolis Zone."  
  
"I guess now we know where Robotnik's base is," Sonic beamed. Knuckles just looked depressed.  
  
"Not the desert again…"  
  
Sonic smirked at the scarlet echidna. The hedgehog was now in a better mood, despite what had just happened- he now knew exactly what he had to do. Knuckles scowled. Typical Sonic behaviour- when there was nothing wrong, he snapped at everyone for no good reason… but when the world was about to end, he was as happy as-  
  
"C'mon, guys- you ready to rumble?" Sonic interrupted. "I bet there's a way up to ARK in that base somewhere."  
  
"Wait a minute, Sonic," Porker cautioned him. Sonic sighed and begun tapping his foot on the floor. Porker shot him a glare before continuing. "I have an idea. Knuckles, can I borrow that blue emerald of yours?"  
  
"Yeah, sure…" Knuckles gave a resigned nod. "Just don't smash it or anything, okay?"  
  
Meanwhile, on the television downstairs, a timer began counting down.  
  
24. 59. 59  
  
58.  
  
57…  
  
5.1 To be Continued…  
  
Sonic and the gang infiltrate Robotnik's secret base, but the mad scientist has a little surprise waiting for them.  
  
Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, part 7:  
  
Lift Off 


	7. Lift off

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 7.  
  
"Lift Off"  
  
By Thalia 'RockChick' Evans.  
  
  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: ARK  
  
1 Cannon countdown: 23 hours  
  
Robotnik gazed at the column of light in which the five Chaos Emeralds floated. The Eclipse Cannon had worked perfectly, just as Shadow had said it would.  
  
But there was a problem…  
  
The light in the control room was dull and flickering, and the glow from the Chaos Emeralds had decreased considerably. The cannon did not have enough energy to fire again. Robotnik scowled in frustration, and glared over at the figure standing at another part of the control panel.  
  
Shadow felt Robotnik's gaze on him, and looked up from his inspection of the status panel. Seeing the mad scientist's impatience, he voiced the facts that the human already knew:  
  
"Five Chaos Emeralds are enough for a test run, but the cannon needs time to recharge. We need the sixth emerald to operate at full power." the black hedgehog paused. His tone was, as usual, calm and almost emotionless. "Of course, if we had the Master Emerald we wouldn't need the others at all."  
  
Robotnik's scowl became even deeper.  
  
"Don't you think I already know that?!" he snarled around his large moustache. "The Master Emerald was destroyed." He then noticed that Shadow's gaze was now directed somewhere past Robotnik's left shoulder. The large man turned around suspiciously, to see Rouge.  
  
"Not exactly," the bat smiled mysteriously. "It may take time, but I'm working on recovering the pieces. I've already found about half of them…" Robotnik, however, was not convinced.  
  
"Time is something we don't have," He muttered in reply. "Not when we have Sonic to contend with. We need the sixth emerald, and there's a chance that the blue spikeball has already found it." Then the madman's mood brightened, as his features split into an insane grin. "Have I got a surprise for him," he thought.  
  
"So, his name is Sonic…" Shadow thought. His hand went to the chest injury that his enhanced metabolism was already starting to heal. Sonic…he was loud, over-confident, in-your-face. Whereas Shadow was a creature of stealth and darkness…  
  
Darkness and light. Which would triumph…?  
  
Rouge looked a little perplexed.  
  
"There's one thing I don't understand," she said. "When you made that transmission to Mobius, why did you relay it through your secret base, instead of sending it directly? Won't that lead Sonic straight to it?" Robotnik replied by grinning broadly.  
  
"Exactly," he chuckled. "And when he gets there, I'll have a little 'welcome party' waiting for him!"  
  
Robotnik wobbled over to the mechanical walker parked next to the control panel, and clambered inside. The machine stalked across the catwalk, and paused by the door. Robotnik looked over his shoulder.  
  
"I have a… 'desert rat' to exterminate. You two, stay here." Although he didn't entirely trust Shadow or Rouge, Robotnik needed someone to stay behind and guard the Eclipse Cannon in case of any unexpected, blue visitors. After all- Sonic could be unpredictable, and might not fall into his trap as planned…  
  
Shadow nodded. The hedgehog disappeared into the shadows at the back of the room, suspecting that Sonic would not be defeated as easily as Robotnik hoped. It didn't really matter. If Robotnik didn't come back, it was an annoyance- but nothing more. If Sonic found his way to ARK, Shadow would defeat him. It was that simple…  
  
Rouge waited until there was no sign of the others, then strode over to the nearest computer terminal. Finding it password-locked, she cursed to herself and lifted her right arm, fiddling with a communicator device on her wrist. With her eyes darting suspiciously from side to side, she spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.  
  
"This is Rouge reporting." She glanced around again, continuing when she saw no sign of being watched. "Now I know what Dr. Robotnik is up to, but I can't find any information about Shadow." Rouge glared at the stubborn computer screen, which still flashed an 'Access Denied' message. "I still don't know if he is the Ultimate Lifeform or not. I guess I'll just have to keep looking. Rouge out." Turning off the communicator, Rouge left the room in search of answers.  
  
She would have to find her information elsewhere.  
  
"So, she is up to something," Shadow thought, watching her leave. He knew how to remain unseen, so Rouge hadn't been aware of the silent hedgehog watching her every move. His red eyes narrowed. Yet another annoyance had presented itself, and Shadow promised himself that he would find out what was going on here –and then put a stop to it.  
  
* * * *  
  
The next morning, in the desert…  
  
Knuckles shrugged the bag containing the Master Emerald fragments into a more comfortable position on his shoulder, as he trudged through the sands.  
  
"Don't know why you had to drag those things along with is, Red." Sonic waved a gloved hand at his scarlet companion, who frowned.  
  
"I ain't gonna let them out of my sight."  
  
"Suit yourself," Sonic sighed, and turned his attention to Tails and Amy, who were deep in conversation.  
  
"I guess insanity must run in the family," said the fox, as his Cyclone walker clanked along beside Sonic, Knuckles and Amy. "So Gerald Kintobor created Shadow as some kind of weapon?" Amy shrugged noncommittally, and Sonic decided to voice his own opinion.  
  
"That's my guess," he said. "Maybe Doc. G was after world domination, just like his grandson… and now Shadow is helping Robotnik carry on where Gerald left off."  
  
"But that doesn't make sense," Amy frowned. "Didn't Porker say that Gerald Kintobor came to Mobius because he wanted peace? And why would Shadow wait fifty years? We don't know enough to go around making assumptions." She paused reflectively. "I don't even think Shadow is really evil."  
  
Sonic glanced at her as if she had gone crazy.  
  
"Amy," he said, as if to a small child. "First he framed me. Then he tried to kill me. Then he helped Robotnik blow up the moon. What makes you think he isn't evil?!"  
  
"It's just a feeling, that's all," Amy replied.  
  
"Shadow is chaotic, as well," Sonic continued. "And you know Chaos energy makes you go crazy." He now had a wicked grin on his face. "I mean, just look at Knuckles. He's been messing around with Chaos Emeralds for years, and he's a total nutcase."  
  
"Speak for yourself," Knuckles growled back. "I can remember a few times when you-"  
  
"Well, I can't." Sonic retorted. "And if I can't remember it, it wasn't me."  
  
"I think he used that excuse after our last party," Amy laughed, quickly guiding the conversation away from a sensitive subject. "Talk about Hangover City…"  
  
"We're in murky waters now, better change the subject!" Tails grinned, as Sonic shook an amused fist at them all. Fooling around was a good way to cope with a serious situation.  
  
"Hey, I think we're there," Knuckles interrupted, causing the cheerful mood to evaporate into seriousness.  
  
The group had reached the top of a large dune. A plain of flat desert stretched below, and the ruins of a mighty palace rose from the sands. The central structure was a stepped pyramid. Although small by pyramid standards, it was still a large building- and unlike the other structures around it, appeared mostly intact.  
  
"This is near where I found the Master Emerald," Knuckles continued. "You sure this is the place?" Sonic nodded.  
  
"Right where the Kintobor computer said it would be." Sonic checked his watch: 12 hours to go until Robotnik's countdown reached zero, and the Eclipse Cannon fired again. Amy had insisted that they wait until morning before attempting a raid on the base. Although outwardly annoyed at the waste of time, Sonic was secretly glad he'd had a chance to rest after the vicious battle with Shadow. He suspected that was why she had suggested it in the first place.  
  
Amy was a pain, but she was very perceptive. The girl had her uses…  
  
Still, now they had a smaller window of opportunity to stop Robotnik.  
  
The blue hedgehog looked at each of his friends in turn. "Ready to rumble, gang?"  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 2  
  
2 Location: Ancient ruins  
  
Cannon countdown: 12 hours  
  
"This looks like the work of echidnas," Knuckles said reverently. "It's just like the Sandopolis Zone." The spiny anteater paused to examine some familiar – looking hieroglyphics, and Sonic rolled his eyes.  
  
"You can study that later. Now, c'mon." Knuckles sighed and followed the others.  
  
The four animals were walking down an avenue lined with towering statues, which formed an approach to the pyramid. The footsteps of Tails' walker echoed in the silence, which was suddenly broken by the young fox's voice.  
  
"This is Robotnik's base all right," he murmured.  
  
"How come you're so sure?" Amy frowned. Tails pointed a finger upwards.  
  
"Look."  
  
The statues, whose bodies resembled stylised echidnas, had all had their heads removed. Metallic replicas of Robotnik's face gleamed in their place.  
  
"Now that's ugly," Sonic commented.  
  
"How dare he!" Knuckles fumed. "Ruins like this are all that's left of my people! He-"  
  
"Save it for Robotnik, Red." Sonic interrupted, silencing him. The small group continued down the avenue, towards a large metal door that definitely did not look ancient.  
  
Suddenly, Sonic stopped, tensing.  
  
"Something's wrong here."  
  
"What…?" Tails began.  
  
"Ssh! Its-"  
  
Suddenly, there was movement behind as a horde of metallic forms came flying over a nearby dune, darkening the sky. Sonic and the others turned to face their new adversaries.  
  
These were not G.U.N sentry robots but badniks of typical Robotnik design, most resembling golden Coconuts badniks. The crowd of robots also included a large number of old spinning-orb badniks, and a couple of new E- 100 series machines.  
  
Over a hundred badniks in total.  
  
Sonic had faced odds like that before. He dropped into a fighting stance and Amy pulled her crossbow from its' holster, ready to attack.  
  
"Looks like Robotnik was expecting us," Tails remarked.  
  
An E100 badnik lowered its weapon and pointed it at Amy…  
  
-And dropped to the ground, lifeless. Out of sight in the ruins, a panel in its' chest popped open and a small yellow Flicky fluttered away to freedom.  
  
Sonic's eyes turned to Amy's crossbow. Seeing that it had not been fired, they raised questioningly to her face.  
  
"It wasn't me," she shrugged.  
  
Sonic frowned and looked up.  
  
"What are you doing here?" the blue hedgehog exclaimed.  
  
Shade Phoenix's sleek motorcycle was parked between the advancing metal army and the four friends. His Chao took up his customary position on Shade's shoulder, and the brown hedgehog brandished the cause of the badnik's sudden demise- a very large disruptor cannon.  
  
"I figured you guys could use a hand."  
  
Sonic glanced at the advancing wave of badniks, which would reach them in about 30 seconds.  
  
"Now, what makes you think that?" he replied.  
  
Shade looked over his shoulder at Sonic.  
  
"You need to get into the base, right?" he gestured with his weapon towards the enemy. "Me and Sparky'll keep 'em busy until you're in."  
  
"You're crazy!" Exclaimed Amy. "You can't take on all those badniks by yourself."  
  
"Just watch me." Shade cast a knowing glance at Robotnik's creations, and nodded slightly. "I know what I'm doing. Besides, if there's a fight going on out here-" the biker hedgehog pointed towards the pyramid's metallic door, "No- one's gonna expect you to be in there."  
  
Sonic's green eyes narrowed- the guy was serious. There were two possibilities here- either Shade was completely insane, or he did know what he was doing.  
  
Sonic was willing to bet that it was a little bit of both.  
  
"You've done this kind of thing before, haven't you?"  
  
There was that 'I-know-something-you-don't' smile again. Behind the tinted lenses, Shade's eyes glinted with amusement and experience.  
  
Where did Sonic know him from? And why were his instincts telling him that Shade could look after himself?  
  
Silently, the motorbike lifted into the air and powered towards the approaching menace.  
  
"Weird guy," Knuckles commented. Tails gave Sonic an odd look.  
  
"You're letting him go?"  
  
Sonic looked at his friend and nodded.  
  
"I've seen the dude in action, he's got some moves," the hedgehog grudgingly admitted. It was strange how his distrust of the biker had lessened.  
  
But then again, seeing him risk his life to help them would have that effect…  
  
Sonic shook his head, turning back to the matter at hand.  
  
"C'mon, we've got a door to break down." He paused, grinning. "Let's go kick some Imperial butt!"  
  
Loud clangs of metal hitting the ground filled the air as Shade took out badnik after badnik. His flying vehicle weaved through the crowd of metal creatures, and Shade noted with satisfaction that his plan was working. The badniks had their attention focused on him, and not the small group of Freedom Fighters below.  
  
No matter what Robotnik did, badniks were always stupid…  
  
As the speeding motorbike cleared the menacing swarm, Shade spared a glance behind him. Sonic had reached the entrance, and had stopped to examine the steel door. He took a step back, gesturing to Tails- who activated his walker's cannon and obliterated the doorway to the pyramid.  
  
The blue hedgehog briefly looked up at the drama taking place above, then all four animals disappeared into the ancient building.  
  
Not a moment to soon… seconds later, the remains of the doorway collapsed in on itself, sealing the entrance with a resounding rumble and a cloud of dust.  
  
"Good, they're in," Shade commented, before observing that the badniks were still in pursuit of his motorbike. "Not so good for us, though." The Chao still perched on his shoulder chirruped worriedly.  
  
"It's all right, we can lose them in the ruins," the hedgehog responded, taking the vehicle into a maze of broken columns. He swerved to the right, barely avoiding a laser bolt from one of the E100s.  
  
"I hope…"  
  
Fortunately, Shade Phoenix's fears were not realised. Concealing himself in the shadows of a leaning statue, he watched as the remaining badniks scattered and disappeared into the desert. Breathing a sigh of relief, the biker brushed his quiff away from his face. Thoughtfully, he scanned the pyramid's entrance.  
  
"That was too easy," he proclaimed, frowning. "Something's going on here…"  
  
* * * *  
  
Later, inside the pyramid…  
  
The stone door had recently been painted, and was now adorned with a stylised Robotnik face on both sides. Suddenly, a large crack snaked across the image.  
  
The leering image abruptly exploded into a thousand fragments. Debris rained inwards, along with a round blue form, which uncurled in mid-air and landed on its feet in the room beyond.  
  
"I'm through!" Sonic called, brushing dust off his quills. He examined the rubble all around him, grinning. "I always wanted to smash Robotnik's face!"  
  
The hedgehog was quickly followed by the three others.  
  
"We must be in the centre of the pyramid," Tails said, gazing at the space around him.  
  
The room was huge, circular and empty. There was no real floor, just a wide ledge that encircled a pit in the centre. Shifting sands were visible at the bottom.  
  
Several doors led out of the chamber, but the most prominent feature was a metal lift on the far side. Sonic nodded towards it.  
  
"That could be what we're looking for. There's probably a space ship or some kind of transport to ARK around somewhere…" Sonic started towards the elevator, but saw that Knuckles had stopped to examine something.  
  
"Look at this," he murmured, running a gloved had across the cool stone wall. "It's some sort of picture record of Echidna history."  
  
Sonic groaned, seeing there was no way to budge the red echidna this time. Bored, he started doing leg stretches to occupy his time.  
  
Amy was now scrutinising the colourful mural on the wall.  
  
"Hey Sonic, this one looks like you!"  
  
Sonic paused in his warm ups, and glanced at a section of the mural. It showed what was unmistakably a hedgehog, in a vivid blue colour and holding what appeared to be a fish.  
  
"Oh yeah, that's me," he replied casually. The others gave him a funny look.  
  
Sonic shrugged. "It's a long story, I'll tell you later." Frowning at the image, he raised an eyebrow. "Am I really that short?"  
  
Tails sniggered, while Amy and Knuckles exchanged confused glances.  
  
"Hey, wait a second…" Knuckles said suddenly, as a disturbing thought dawned in his mind. "Has anyone else noticed there aren't any badniks around? If this is really Robotnik's base, the place should be crawling with them."  
  
"Nah," Sonic smiled. "No badnik would dare show its' face with me around." Amy, however, was more serious.  
  
"Knuckles is right… this is too easy. It must be a trap." Sonic began to shake his head doubtfully, but was cut off by a voice from behind them.  
  
"You ought to listen to your girlfriend, Sonic."  
  
It was Robotnik's voice, and it issued from a speaker above the door. There was also a small video camera, its light blinking red.  
  
"I've told you a million times that Amy is not my—" Sonic began, but the pink hedgehog shushed him.  
  
"If you're thinking of trying to stop me, you'd better think again." Continued the would-be dictator. Sonic took a pace forwards, smiling confidently.  
  
"Whatcha gonna do about it, Lard Belly?" he taunted, a cocky grin plastered all over his face. Sonic's voice took on a bored tone. "I suppose you're gonna use some kind of new weapon on us, as usual."  
  
"If you insist…" Robotnik chuckled. A beep issued from the speaker, as he pressed a button somewhere.  
  
Sonic yawned elaborately, then picked some sand off his glove as if he had nothing better to do.  
  
Then he noticed that the ground was vibrating.  
  
Sonic spun around as the sand in the circular pit exploded outwards, forcing him to shield his face with a hand.  
  
As the dust began to settle, Sonic lowered his arm, and looked down into the pit. His eyes then tracked slowly upwards.  
  
"Oh."  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location: Inside the pyramid  
  
Cannon Countdown: 11 hours  
  
"It's a Guardian…" Knuckles hissed, eyeing the huge humanoid statue that had risen from the sands below. He had encountered one before, but it hadn't been as big as the one he faced now. This thing could use the Sandopolis Guardian as a toothpick…  
  
Everyone dived for cover as the Guardian jerked into life, slamming a colossal hand onto the platform where they were standing.  
  
Sonic rolled out of the way, cursing as he heard Robotnik's maniacal laughter.  
  
"You're loving this, aren't you?" He muttered, getting to his feet.  
  
The stone monster ignored Amy, Tails and Knuckles, and Sonic realised it was programmed to go after him alone. "Great," he thought. "I'm not gonna be beaten by walking masonry!"  
  
Sonic sped around the circular platform, gratefully observing that the Guardian could not follow his movements. It was slow, but then again- wasn't everything?  
  
The blue hedgehog crouched, and launched a spin attack at the moving wall of stone. He impacted in the middle of its back, but the blow had little result except to knock free a few chips of rock. Grabbing the lip of the small dent he had made, Sonic clung on with one hand while he considered what to do next.  
  
"Aw man, this could take all day."  
  
Then, the Guardian's head swivelled 180 degrees to look him directly in the face.  
  
Sonic grimaced. "Yikes..."  
  
Sonic let go of his handhold and propelled himself away with a kick, landing safely back on the ledge-but not before he noticed a glint of metal atop the statue's head.  
  
The hedgehog grinned. That looked interesting… Perhaps he had found the 'invulnerable' Guardian's weak spot.  
  
Sonic folded his arms, stood still and waited.  
  
The Guardian's torso swivelled, and it once again attempted to crush him with a blow from its huge fists. The stone ledge rang with the impact, but Sonic had leaped out of the way and now crouched on one of the colossus' rocky knuckles.  
  
The hand began to lift from the ledge…  
  
Sensing the right moment, Sonic vaulted from the hand to the upper arm, and from there to the shoulder. He paused to listen to Robotnik's colourful response, then found himself staring the Goliath in the face from a distance of less than a metre.  
  
"Hi there, big guy…"  
  
Sonic grinned and jumped straight up, seeing the machinery protruding from the top of the head. He assumed- correctly- that Robotnik was using the mechanism to control the Guardian. His leap took him a couple of metres higher than the top of the statue's head, and from there it was easy to launch a spin attack straight down.  
  
The spinning hedgehog's quills ripped through the metal device with the force of a chainsaw. In the moments before he bounced back into the air, Sonic was aware of a shower of sparks and an angry exclamation from Robotnik's disembodied voice.  
  
"Nooo!! He destroyed the control mechanism!"  
  
"Ain't that just too bad," Sonic replied with mock sympathy, as he flew through the air. The Guardian froze in place with its' head leaning to one side; still standing, but otherwise seeming quite dead.  
  
Sonic landed back on his feet, suppressing a hiss of pain as the impact jarred his bruised back. The reminder of his fight with Shadow made him wonder, once again, exactly what was going on in the space colony.  
  
Recovering, he looked around for his friends- breathing a sigh of relief when he spotted them sheltering in the doorway.  
  
"Sonic, that was amazing…" Amy sighed dreamily.  
  
"Hey, what do you expect from the best?" Sonic replied with a cocky grin- there was nothing he liked more than being admired. He casually brushed the dust off himself, then struck a cool pose, waiting for more compliments. Knuckles rolled his eyes, sighing exasperatedly.  
  
"Sonic, stop basking in the glow of your own ego for a minute. It's not over yet…"  
  
"Huh?" Sonic looked over at the Guardian, which was no longer still but twitching spasmodically. The head rotated a full 360 degrees, and a massive arm shot out and slammed into the wall.  
  
"Looks like Robotnik has lost control of it," Tails pointed out. Sonic gave him a dirty look.  
  
"Thanks for stating the obvious, pixel brain. Now let's get out of here!"  
  
* * * *  
  
The image from the security camera showed the four animals heading for the steel elevator. Robotnik swore loudly, and typed a command into the keyboard.  
  
There was no response. As the madman had feared, the flailing Guardian had already taken out the wiring that controlled the lift's manual override.  
  
The lift itself, however, would still work…  
  
"Piece of junk!" Robotnik yelled. "Why do those… 'freedom fighters' always get so lucky?!" There was a loud creak from the stone giant, as it finally gave up the ghost. The huge lifeless statue toppled over backwards, destroying the camera and sealing the doorway in the process.  
  
The television screen went dark. Robotnik sat in the silence, rage slowly growing in his mind.  
  
Blasted hedgehog!  
  
Still, he couldn't blame himself for this. Not entirely. His only real mistake had been to use 'second hand' technology… relying on the ancient Guardian to do the job, instead of his tried and tested badniks.  
  
And now those annoying furballs were going to reach the supply ship.  
  
On the other hand, Robotnik mused, at least they hadn't discovered the space transporter. That way would have been much quicker. Using the space ship, it would take them a few hours to reach ARK.  
  
Slowly, an evil grin spread over Robotnik's face.  
  
He prided himself on his ability to make plans. And this time, he had an even better idea to get rid of Sonic for good.  
  
The madman turned his cumbersome bulk around, and headed for the space transporter…  
  
The metallic lift sped upwards, fortunately just big enough to house Sonic, Knuckles, Amy and Tails- who was still in the cockpit of the Cyclone. It was, however, a very tight fit. Sonic made sure he was as far away from Amy as he could get…  
  
"Now we just have to get to ARK and stop that cannon," he pondered, wondering if there really was a way up to the space colony from here. "I hope Porker's plan works."  
  
Knuckles scowled, and hefted his bag so that its contents jingled. The sound echoed in the cramped space, followed closely by the voice of the echidna.  
  
"Don't forget about the Master Emerald."  
  
"How could I," replied the blue hedgehog, eyeing the bag uncomfortably, "When you've got the pieces right there?" Sonic gestured at Tails' walker, where a reinforced metal-and-plastic box was visible in the cockpit.  
  
"You could at least have put some of them in the shielded box with the blue emerald." He didn't really feel comfortable being in a cramped space at the best of times. Having a big source of Chaos energy in such close proximity made him deeply nervous, even if he didn't show it.  
  
Knuckles rolled his eyes, and was about to come out with a suitable taunt when the floor jerked.  
  
"Looks like we're here," Tails said as the doors slid smoothly open.  
  
"You're doing it again, Tails." Sonic replied, gratefully stepping out of the elevator. He paused to glance at his surroundings. It looked like some sort of hangar, and in the centre of the large space was…  
  
"Will you just look at that!" The hedgehog's lips twitched into a little, nostalgic smile, and he glanced at Tails. The fox had the same expression.  
  
"Talk about déjà vu! Guess Robotnik doesn't change his designs much, huh?"  
  
"No kidding," Sonic replied. Seeing the others' puzzled expressions, he added; "Before your time, dudes."  
  
The space ship was long, sleek and white, with two pairs of wings set back from the long nose section. The wings formed an X shape, making the craft look like something from a sci-fi movie that Sonic had once seen. But the film was not what he was thinking of.  
  
"Last time I saw something like this was years ago, before we formed the Freedom Fighters," Sonic explained. "Robotnik had one of these ships on his Wing Fortress. Me and Tails used it to get to the Death Egg."  
  
"I remember that," The young fox nodded. "You nearly burned up on re- entry…" Tails grinned maliciously as Sonic elbowed him sharply in the ribs.  
  
"Let's just forget about that, shall we?!" the hedgehog hissed under his breath. Silently, he added- "I hope it doesn't happen this time…"  
  
Outwardly though, Sonic quickly regained his composure.  
  
"D'you remember how to fly one of these things?" he asked his two-tailed friend. Tails replied with a thumbs-up sign, and everyone headed for the streamlined vessel…  
  
Outside the pyramid, Shade Phoenix was preparing to leave. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of why he had decided to come here in the first place.  
  
It should have been easy to just mind his own business, to leave the Freedom Fighters to deal with the badnik army by themselves. After all, it wasn't as if they hadn't done it before…  
  
Shade had already saved Sonic's life once, when he rescued him from the explosion on Prison Island. Before that, he had made sure the Master Emerald couldn't fall into the wrong hands. That should have been enough to ease his conscience.  
  
But it wasn't…  
  
What disturbed him further was that he had almost been enjoying himself during this adventure.  
  
The brown hedgehog sighed, causing an inquisitive chirp from the green Chao on his shoulder- a chirp that turned to a yowl of alarm as a deep rumble filled the air.  
  
The top third of the pyramid suddenly began to move, splitting into two perfect halves that slid slowly aside, and the rumble increased in volume. Intermingled with it was a high pitched whine as an engine screamed into life.  
  
Suddenly, a slender white shape flew out of the bisected pyramid and arrowed away into the blue sky, the whine decreasing with distance.  
  
Shade smiled.  
  
"There they go- nothin' I can do here now."  
  
Shade turned his motorbike around and headed away from the pyramid-cum- launchpad. Now, he thought, he could finally put the past behind him and hit the open road again. His future held no more of this adventuring business. It would be peaceful, ordinary...  
  
3 Boring…  
  
Slowly, the bike came to a stop.  
  
Shade Phoenix shook his head, glancing back over his shoulder.  
  
"Who am I kidding?!"  
  
The vehicle sped off into the distance, and its rider was smiling.  
  
3.1 To be continued  
  
When the gang arrive on ARK, Porker's plan is revealed, and Shadow uncovers Rouge's true identity. But that isn't the only problem she faces, as Knuckles is on the trail of the missing Master Emerald fragments…  
  
Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation: part 8  
  
'Raiders of the Lost ARK' (Don't laugh… I just couldn't resist!) 


	8. Raiders of the lost ARK

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 8.  
  
"Raiders of the Lost ARK"  
  
By Thalia 'RockChick' Evans.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: ARK  
  
Cannon countdown 8 hours  
  
A streamlined white space ship arrowed towards the hemispherical space station.  
  
The cockpit was large and roomy- a feature all ships built by Robotnik shared, for reasons of convenience- so Tails had been able to walk the Cyclone right into the vessel. Now empty, the walker was an inert lump taking up most of the space between the four seats.  
  
All the seats were occupied. Tails piloted, while in the co-pilot's seat Sonic eyed the controls to the ship's meagre weapons. He hadn't had a chance to use them yet.  
  
Part of him wished he had.  
  
Behind the impatient hedgehog, Amy Rose and Knuckles filled the other two chairs. The red echidna seethed silently, shooting the back of Sonic's chair a glare every so often.  
  
You don't just sling a bag of precious emerald shards into the cargo hold!  
  
But Sonic had, and just because their energy made him jumpy. Knuckles sighed. Thinking about it though, he supposed it was understandable… Sonic had been through a lot, after all, even if he wasn't under that risk anymore.  
  
At least Sonic wasn't complaining now, Knuckles thought, and went back to worrying about the welfare of his Master Emerald. The emerald…that bat girl probably had the rest of the pieces by now.  
  
Why were the most attractive ones always the most evil?  
  
Knuckles blinked. Where had that come from?  
  
He needed some sleep. Yes, that must be it…  
  
"Ugly lookin' thing, isn't it?" Sonic remarked, gazing out the window at the rapidly approaching ARK. With the two circular viewing windows, the tower in between and the triangular structures flaring out at either side, the space colony bore a slight resemblance to Robotnik's face.  
  
Rather like the Death Egg, in fact.  
  
Sonic's face took on a sneer of disgust; this was getting all too familiar for his liking. It was as if history was repeating itself.  
  
The hedgehog started, all at once seeing things from a different angle.  
  
Gerald Kintobor had created Shadow, and a cannon to control the world with terror. Decades later, Gerald's grandson had devised a similar space- bound weapon.  
  
But not before he helped an ordinary young hedgehog become something more…  
  
"In a way," Sonic found himself thinking, "Dr. Kintobor created me…"  
  
History repeating itself…  
  
Perhaps Gerald Kintobor hadn't started out evil, just like Dr. Robotnik. Perhaps Shadow was…  
  
No. It was ridiculous. It was stupid. It was superstitious nonsense.  
  
Sonic scolded himself for even considering it.  
  
Suddenly, the craft pitched wildly to the left. Knuckles would have been thrown out of his chair if he wasn't strapped in.  
  
Sonic looked at the control board, trying to determine the problem, then looked out the window. Amy just looked ill.  
  
"Tails! Wh-what was that?" she gagged.  
  
"Debris! Hold on tight!" the fox yelled, wrenching at the controls. The destruction of ARK's cargo bay had left all kinds of junk in space, and now they were flying into it. Tails began to take the ship around in a wide curve to avoid the debris field.  
  
A chunk of the stuff bounced ineffectually off the windscreen.  
  
Seconds later, the ship was rocked by something more substantial. The lights flickered.  
  
"Sorry," Tails apologised. "Didn't see that one coming…"  
  
"We noticed," Knuckles observed dryly. "What'd it hit?"  
  
"Us," Tails replied, receiving a glare from Sonic in return. The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes, muttering 'obviously, pixel-brain' under his breath, and checked the control panel.  
  
"Looks like we got a direct hit in the cargo section," he observed.  
  
"What was in there?" Amy asked warily.  
  
"Nothing except…the Master Emerald…" Sonic's voice trailed off as Knuckles' eyes went wide; the echidna began to unbuckle his safety straps.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Hey, cool it Red…" Sonic raised his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Don't worry, I'm sure the doors weren't…"  
  
A brown cloth bag drifted past the window, attracted and pulled in by the gravity field of ARK.  
  
"…Damaged…" Sonic finished weakly, tracking the object's progress with eyes that matched its contents. "Oh."  
  
"…Sonic…" Knuckles growled.  
  
* * * *  
  
Meanwhile, in the cannon control room…  
  
Rouge sighed as she entered the room, feeling rather pleased with herself. The computers in the ARK's science labs had been much more forthcoming than the password-locked one in the control room.  
  
The bat frowned a little, gazing at the sheaf of printouts in her hand. Yes, she had more information now- but what she had been able to extract from the computer had raised more questions than it had answered. Still, it was better than nothing…  
  
"Did you find what you were looking for?"  
  
Rouge started at the voice. Those quiet tones were unmistakable…  
  
"Shadow?"  
  
He had, as usual, been concealed in the darkness. Shadow chose to reveal himself and stepped into view.  
  
"I have done some research of my own," the black hedgehog said, as he scrutinised the suspicious bat. "I know who you are. You're the government spy, Rouge the bat, aren't you?"  
  
Rouge blinked. The hedgehog was smarter than she had given him credit for… somehow he had figured out her true identity.  
  
She had been recruited to investigate G.U.N, the human organisation; and to report on Robotnik's plans. But that was only part of her mission. Fifty years before, the Mobian military had captured what was believed to be the Ultimate Life Form. Fear of this potentially dangerous creature had resulted in the information being hidden, deliberately forgotten; only a privileged few had known of its' existence.  
  
Now, however, the truth was leaking out.  
  
The suspicious Zone Leaders of Mobius had chosen Rouge to discover what their forebears had tried so hard to conceal… and in return, had promised her a rich reward. Namely, the Chaos Emeralds.  
  
That was an offer she couldn't refuse…  
  
"No one is what they seem," she nodded mysteriously. She was definitely hiding something.  
  
Rouge studied Shadow's appearance very carefully.  
  
His red eyes narrowed.  
  
"You did find something, didn't you?"  
  
Rouge nodded, withdrawing a sheet of paper from the folder she carried. The red and black Project Shadow logo was visible at the top; seeing this, Shadow moved closer for a better look.  
  
"When I looked up Project Shadow, I found this." She lifted the printout for the hedgehog to see. There was some text, and a black and white photograph- the creature depicted was grotesque, a deformed salamander encumbered by machinery. Judging by the scale, it was as big as a reasonably sized dinosaur.  
  
Shadow wore a slight frown of puzzlement. What was this…?  
  
The feeling of doubt was becoming far too familiar. Shadow experienced an odd, sinking feeling.  
  
"If this creature is really the Ultimate Life Form, named Shadow," Rouge paused, green eyes shifting from the paper to meet his gaze- "Then who- or what- is standing in front of me?"  
  
Shadow hissed. He took a few brisk steps that carried him past the bat, and stood with his back to her. Utterly unable to meet her gaze.  
  
Was it possible that he was not the Ultimate Life Form?  
  
He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it!  
  
"It's…not…true…" He murmured painfully. Rouge was shocked by the anguish in his voice, which was usually so emotionless.  
  
"Even your memories might not be real, you know…" she said softly.  
  
Shadow still didn't turn around. That much was true…there was so much he couldn't remember. Or didn't want to. He had blocked out many memories, which returned now and then as painful flashbacks.  
  
How could he know what was true and what was not?  
  
Until now, there had been only one thing he was sure of. One definite, unshakeable fact. Now that, too, had been shattered.  
  
He thought: "Who am I?"  
  
As if to confirm the fact to himself, he answered the question out loud.  
  
"It doesn't matter. It's still me…Shadow…" his voice was confused and barely audible; but as he lifted his head the ruby eyes shone with new determination.  
  
Shadow's fists clenched at his sides. There was still one thing left to hold on to.  
  
His purpose. His ultimate goal.  
  
As he had done so many times before, Shadow wrestled his emotions under control, pushing them to the back of his mind.  
  
It was better to feel nothing at all.  
  
The hedgehog turned, finally looking Rouge in the eyes; once more calm and purposeful.  
  
"I will fulfil my promise to Maria," he said, quietly but firmly. "That's all that matters to me now."  
  
As he left, a single thought filled his mind:  
  
Revenge!  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Location: ARK  
  
Cannon countdown: 7 hours  
  
Later, in the corridors of ARK…  
  
"So this is ARK, huh?" Amy mused.  
  
"This place was state of the art when it was first built," Tails explained. "But looking at it now…" Amy gazed around at the dim corridors, with their clinging cobwebs and lights flickering on emergency power.  
  
"Now it's an abandoned ARK. Sure is dusty," the pink hedgehog finished.  
  
"Spooky, too," Tails added. The footsteps of the Cyclone made a mournful sound in the empty passageway. "The official story is it was evacuated after a terrible accident." Sonic sceptically raised an eyebrow.  
  
"A black and red 'accident', probably." His expression turned to one of annoyance. "Shadow is around here somewhere. I owe that guy a knuckle sandwich." Then he paused, thinking. "Speaking of Knuckles, I can't believe he bailed on us like that," Under his breath, he muttered: "Knucklehead."  
  
"Don't blame Knuckles, Sonic." Tails told him. "His life's work is guarding that emerald."  
  
"Whatever." Sonic sighed. "I just wish he hadn't taken off like that."  
  
Sonic, Amy realised, was worried; being grumpy was just his way of showing it.  
  
"Now we're on the subject of Chaos Emeralds," continued the hedgehog, "Wanna run Porker's plan by me?"  
  
"Sure," Tails said. The group stopped walking, and Tails retrieved the large, shielded box from the cockpit. He unlatched it, and Sonic blinked as a wave of Chaos escaped into the air.  
  
The box contained two Chaos Emeralds. One of them was blue, and he recognised it as the one Knuckles had taken from his island. The other was slightly smaller and sickly yellow. It had a very odd energy signal, Sonic realised- strangely weak and fluctuating. Tails removed the small emerald from its box.  
  
"Porker created this fake emerald using energy from the blue one," explained the fox. "It's not as powerful as the real thing, but it has the same wavelength and properties." Sonic nodded impatiently, tapping a foot on the ground.  
  
"So?"  
  
"Porker designed it on the principle that the Eclipse Cannon works in a similar way to the Floating Island," he continued, ignoring the fidgeting hedgehog. "It should cause a chain reaction within the cannon's core…"  
  
"And blow it up," Sonic finished, pleased that Tails was finally talking in a language he understood. The little guy, he thought, had been hanging out with Porker and Tekno too much.  
  
Tails handed his friend the fake emerald. Sonic felt a tingle of energy through his glove, and the emerald glowed a little in reaction to his own energy.  
  
Sonic examined it closely. "So," he said, "We just have to find the cannon, and slam dunk it in there."  
  
"That's the idea," Grinned Tails. He reached into the cockpit, withdrawing three watch-like devices. "Porker said these communicators would come in handy, too, "he continued, handing them around.  
  
Sonic fastened his to his right arm.  
  
"Let's get on with it."  
  
* * * *  
  
The three friends had no idea they were being watched.  
  
Robotnik first examined the picture from the security camera, then the readout showing the strange energy readings.  
  
"Mmmm… I'm getting signals from two separate emeralds," he mused. "Plus- what's left of the Master Emerald is outside the space colony."  
  
Too many emeralds. The conclusion was obvious…  
  
"Bah. Those fools think they can trick me with a fake?! I'll teach them." With a surprisingly quick movement, he grabbed his communicator and jabbed at the buttons.  
  
"Rouge!"  
  
The radio crackled. There was a hiss of static. Then-  
  
"Yes, Doctor?"  
  
"Sonic and his friends have arrived, their ship docked not long ago." The mad scientist paused, not to allow his annoyance to creep into his voice. "The echidna is with them, and he has the rest of the Master Emerald. Deal with him."  
  
On the other end of the line, there was a silence as the bat digested this. Robotnik could almost hear her eyes sparkling, see the greedy smile undoubtedly spreading on her lips. Finally, she repeated-  
  
"Yes, Doctor."  
  
Robotnik ended the transmission. He was alone in the main control room, with its circular window looking out into space- and as a result felt free to rage.  
  
"Why does he always spoil everything?! That spikeball never quits!"  
  
"I could have told you that myself…"  
  
Robotnik turned. Shadow fixed the human with a steady red gaze; he had probably been there all along. He had a talent for going unnoticed.  
  
Still, he should have known Shadow would be in here. When the hedgehog wasn't contemplating the Eclipse Cannon, he was almost always in this room. Maybe he liked the view; in any case, Robotnik didn't really care.  
  
Of course, the madman had no real idea what happened here. This was where Shadow and Maria had gazed longingly at Mobius below. It was also the last place he had ever seen her, alive or otherwise.  
  
Shadow did not avoid the control room. He came here when he needed to remind himself of his mission, his promise. To think, and win back some control from the chaos.  
  
It wasn't working as well as it once had.  
  
"You should have known Sonic would defeat your pathetic forces in the desert."  
  
"And you could have done better, I suppose," Robotnik countered, irked.  
  
"Yes, I could." The words were confident, doubtless. The mind behind them was not. Shadow spoke more to reassure himself than anything else.  
  
Robotnik glared, not noticing.  
  
"I suppose," he said dangerously, "You consider yourself superior to me?"  
  
"Yes." Was the firm reply.  
  
"After my grandfather created you? After I released you from stasis, and you called me 'master'?" Shadow narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Things have changed, doctor. Then, I needed your help. Now you need mine."  
  
Robotnik scowled silently for a moment. The hedgehog had a point… but that was not something he would admit to easily.  
  
"What exactly makes you think that?" he growled ominously. Shadow pointed towards the screen that was tracking Sonic's progress through the space colony.  
  
"The blue hedgehog. You aren't capable of defeating him- I am." He crossed the room, and with a flick of his hand, deactivated the monitor. Shadow considered the dark screen. "I want him out of the way as much as you do."  
  
"Finally, something we agree on," Robotnik beamed falsely. How he hated these hedgehogs! Always finding a way to make things difficult. He did not know what had caused Shadow's sudden need to take control of the situation, but this was getting dangerous- and he had no intention of making the same mistakes he had made with the likes of Brutus.  
  
Once Sonic was dealt with, thought Robotnik, Shadow would make a wonderful cybernik…  
  
"Leave Sonic to me. I will deal with him." The black hedgehog continued, fixing Robotnik with a calculating stare. The madman replied with one of his own.  
  
He would have to be careful… Shadow was intelligent. Dangerously so.  
  
Breaking eye contact, the hedgehog began to walk out of the room.  
  
"No, wait…" at the sound of Robotnik's voice, Shadow paused, looking back. Waiting.  
  
Robotnik thought for a moment. He absently twisted the end of his moustache. "I have a better idea."  
  
Perhaps leaving Shadow to dispose of Sonic wasn't the best idea after all. Maybe it was time for a little payback...  
  
Robotnik grinned evilly.  
  
"Bring me the girl."  
  
* * * *  
  
Beep. Beep.  
  
The outside surface of Ark was silent except for the quiet, incessant beeping noise.  
  
Beepbeepbeep.  
  
Knuckles paused in his climbing for a moment. He was definitely getting closer. According to the sound from the emerald radar, the bag of Master Emerald fragments was at the top of this tower…  
  
The echidna looked up; and planet Mobius loomed over his head. He sighed wearily and lifted a hand, before driving the two claws into the metal wall above his head.  
  
Slowly, Knuckles hauled himself up the side of the tower. The gravity here was weaker than on Mobius, but the air was also much thinner- meaning scaling this edifice was more difficult than he would have expected. Plus, the metal was harder to get a grip on than the rock and earth he was used to.  
  
At least there wasn't much further to go.  
  
Knuckles swung his other arm up, hooking his claws over a protruding lip of metal. Pulling himself up, he found that he had reached the flat top of the tower. He panted slightly with the effort and looked around.  
  
Turning his gaze upward, Knuckles realised his first assumption had been wrong. The tower continued for another twenty metres or so, but as four metal struts crossed by catwalks. Knuckles groaned inwardly at the thought of more climbing, then sighed resignedly and pushed his dreadlocks out of his face.  
  
beepbeepbeepbee  
  
The beeping of the emerald radar was now a constant whine. That was odd… surely the bag of shards wouldn't give that big a reading?  
  
The red echidna looked towards the centre of the square platform. Yes! The bag containing the emerald fragments was right there. And leaning over it was-  
  
Rouge!  
  
Knuckles swore under his breath. The jewel thief had got there first! The white-furred bat had a backpack on her shoulders- Knuckles assumed it contained more fragments- and was cautiously examining the brown cloth sack on the metallic floor.  
  
"Hey! Bat girl!" Knuckles yelled, striding purposefully in her direction. Rouge looked up, and seeing the approaching echidna, swept the bag behind her with a swift swipe of her foot.  
  
"I think those belong to me," Knuckles growled, pointing.  
  
"Finders keepers, tough guy," the bat smiled back. "I got here first." Seeing the smile, Knuckles felt a little light-headed.  
  
Of course, that may have been due to the thin atmosphere.  
  
Of course.  
  
Knuckles shook his head. Uncharacteristically, he tried to reason with her.  
  
"That emerald has belonged to my race for millennia-"  
  
"Maybe it's about time it had a change of scenery, then." She smiled sweetly and went back to her examination of the bag.  
  
"You have no idea what you're dealing with, do you? The Master Emerald can be dangerous in the wrong hands…" Rouge looked up, an amused expression on her face.  
  
"So can I."  
  
Knuckles couldn't think of anything to say to that.  
  
Eventually, he squared his shoulders and continued marching towards the bat.  
  
"If you won't give me the emerald, I'll have to take it- I'm warning you." His dark blue eyes lowered dangerously. "And I never warn anyone twice."  
  
"Whatever you say, handsome." Rouge rose to her feet as Knuckles walked past and reached for the bag. Their gaze met…  
  
Her eyes sparkled with amusement. He wore a slight frown of puzzlement, and froze.  
  
She swung her leg around and kicked him in the head.  
  
"Augh!"  
  
He knew he should have used his fists instead of his mouth. Soon, Knuckles thought, he might have a worse black eye than Sonic did.  
  
Knuckles had had enough. He leaped to his feet, and swung at her with a clawed fist. Rouge nimbly dodged out of harm's way, and tutted at him reproachfully.  
  
"Temper, temper."  
  
"I'll show you temper," muttered Knuckles. This time, his fist connected and the bat was sent flying.  
  
She looked outraged, and shocked.  
  
"How could you? Striking a lady!"  
  
"You're no lady," he replied.  
  
"Well," Rouge considered, now smirking wickedly again. "You could be right about that!"  
  
Knuckles almost smirked back. Stopping himself just in time, he noticed Rouge had her head on one side, listening. Her large ears twitched. Unable to hear anything, Knuckles frowned. Being a bat, Rouge had much better hearing than most people, but in seconds Knuckles had also picked up the faint mechanical noise.  
  
It was getting steadily louder…  
  
Knuckles barely had time to exclaim "What?" before the floor collapsed.  
  
'Collapsed' was the wrong word. The floor, in fact, had opened. As he fell out of control, he caught a glimpse of what lay below--  
  
The hollow structure was actually a cooling tower for the Eclipse Cannon. As the cannon recharged, it generated a lot of heat- this heat needed to be vented from time to time. But that didn't concern Knuckles or Rouge, they were more worried about the pit of orange inferno that had opened up below them.  
  
Fortunately, they didn't fall for long.  
  
A powerful blast of hot air sent them spiralling upwards. Knuckles saw the bag of emerald pieces being buoyed up with him, and grabbed it gratefully, then used his other hand to catch hold of the catwalk before he could be blasted into space.  
  
Moments later, Rouge also alighted on the narrow metal strip, wings flailing for balance. It protected them from the worst of the winds, which died out after a few moments.  
  
Rouge folded her wings and eyed the bag, now in Knuckles' possession.  
  
"Why are you so stubborn about that emerald?" She asked, annoyed.  
  
"I've guarded the Chaos Emeralds for as long as I can remember. Keeping them safe is my duty." He glared at the bat, clutching the bag tighter. "I suppose you think your duty is to steal them."  
  
She scowled and made a rush at the bag. But her foot slipped on the smooth metal, plunging her into the abyss…  
  
Rouge tried to flick open her wings, but they became tangled in her backpack. Her eyes widened in shock- she was going to plummet into the flames!  
  
Suddenly there was a jolt. She looked up, surprised- to find Knuckles hanging from the catwalk by one hand; the other was firmly clamped around her wrist. His eyes were concerned.  
  
The strong echidna quickly pulled her to safety.  
  
"Get your hands off me!" She snapped as soon as she was back on her feet, and Knuckles' expression altered to one of anger.  
  
"If that's your way of thanking me for saving your life-"  
  
Rouged fluttered her eyelashes coyly.  
  
"Huh, you just wanted to hold my hand, didn't you?" She smiled. Knuckles blinked and promptly took a step back.  
  
"No way! I just wanted to save my emerald!"  
  
"Huh!" Rouge muttered, enraged. "Men! Well, if they mean so much to you-" She shrugged off the backpack, and tossed it to Knuckles' feet- "Then take them! They stink of echidna anyway."  
  
Knuckles tried to ignore the insult and hastily checked the bag's contents. Yes- it looked like the rest of the fragments were there!  
  
"If that's the way you feel, why didn't you just give them to me in the first place?" He grumbled under his breath. Then he looked up at Rouge, who seemed genuinely upset and had her back to him.  
  
The echidna was confused. Why had she given him the emeralds, when they were fighting moments before? And why was she sulking about it?!  
  
He didn't comprehend any of this, but Knuckles was glad that Rouge seemed to have a good side…  
  
Knuckles sighed. He opened his mouth, then shut it again. He blushed a little.  
  
"Damn!" he thought. "I hate doing this!" Apologising wasn't his strong point.  
  
Finally, he hesitantly addressed the bat.  
  
"I'm sorry… If I hurt you," he sighed. Rouge turned around and looked at him, smiling a little.  
  
"What is it with men and Chaos Emeralds? Shadow used the same excuse you did."  
  
"Shadow?"  
  
"Oh, you're jealous now!"  
  
"No way!!" Denied Knuckles. She just grinned at him, turned and began to walk away.  
  
"We'd better get out of here."  
  
Knuckles sighed and watched her go, before contemplating the long climb down.  
  
"I guess I'm never gonna understand girls," he thought.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location: A corridor in ARK  
  
Cannon Countdown: 6 hours  
  
At the same moment that Knuckles began his ascent of the metal tower, Sonic and friends were still wandering through the corridors of ARK.  
  
"Sonic, are you sure it's this way?" Tails asked dubiously.  
  
"Sure I'm sure. The Chaos Emeralds are this way, and that's probably where the cannon is."  
  
"Oh…"  
  
They continued in silence for a few moments. Sonic seemed to be becoming more tense as they went on. His eyes flicked from side to side and his spines stood on end a little. Eventually Tails picked up on this, and frowned.  
  
"Sonic, what's wrong?"  
  
"We're being followed," he whispered.  
  
"I don't hear any--"  
  
Sonic suddenly whipped round, and stood ready to fight.  
  
"Shadow!" He yelled. "Show yourself!"  
  
No reply.  
  
"Er, Sonic…" Said Tails. Sonic gave him a look that said: 'if you say it's my imagination, you'll regret it.' Tails shut up.  
  
"He's gone," Sonic observed. "Lives up to his name, doesn't he?"  
  
"How did you know he was here?"  
  
Sonic looked off down the corridor.  
  
"Stripes has a few tricks up his sleeve, I'll give him that," he mused. "Somehow he was masking his energy signature. But not well enough to get past me."  
  
Then Sonic looked around. His expression turned to one of dismay.  
  
"Where's Amy?"  
  
The hedgehog sighed.  
  
The communicator on his wrist beeped loudly, and Sonic and Tails exchanged glances.  
  
"Yeah?" Suspiciously, Sonic responded to the incoming message. After a sinister pause, there was a voice on the other end.  
  
"What's wrong, spikeball? Have you lost something?"  
  
Sonic bristled at the sound of Robotnik's voice. He was not going to be goaded into a battle of insults with the mad professor, so instead got straight to the point.  
  
"What have you done with Amy, Robotnik?"  
  
"Bring the Chaos Emerald to my control room. And do it quickly, otherwise she will die." Sonic scowled briefly at the device on his wrist. Then he rolled his eyes and looked at Tails.  
  
"Why do I always end up having to rescue that girl?" the sapphire hedgehog muttered to his friend. Then, regarding the communicator once more, he sighed.  
  
"Well, Lard Belly, you could at least give us some directions."  
  
* * * *  
  
"Let…me…go!" Amy Rose fumed, struggling valiantly. But whatever she did, she couldn't break free of Shadow's grip on her arms. The girl twisted her head around to look at the black hedgehog behind her.  
  
"And I thought you weren't evil! So much for female intuition!" She spat. Shadow barely even blinked.  
  
"Do you ever shut up?" He asked. Concealing himself from Sonic had been easy. So had grabbing the girl and taking her back to the control room.  
  
Putting up with her whining, however, had not…  
  
As for Amy, she wasn't entirely sure what had happened. She had been walking with Sonic and Tails, and had thought she spotted a movement behind them. When she paused to look, Amy had suddenly found a hand clamped over her mouth; for an instant she had been suspended in a green nothingness- then she was here, with Shadow and Robotnik- who immediately took her communicator and her crossbow.  
  
Robotnik turned off the communicator, and grinned evilly at the pink hedgehog.  
  
"Sonic should be along shortly," he leered. "And then we'll have a little fun."  
  
"Is this the way you treat all the girls?!" Amy snapped. "Sonic's gonna kick your butt when he gets here!"  
  
"Oh, I don't think so," Robotnik said calmly. "I have a plan." Shadow regarded him curiously.  
  
"And what exactly would that be?"  
  
Robotnik chuckled, turning away and climbing ponderously into his walker.  
  
"I can't tell you that. It would spoil the surprise!"  
  
Amy glanced at Shadow.  
  
"I guess he's gonna keep both of us in the dark," she muttered.  
  
Someone hit the control panel on the doorframe a bit too hard, and the metal door slid grudgingly open.  
  
Sonic the hedgehog stepped into the control room, radiating annoyance; to his right and slightly behind, Tails brought his walker to a clanking stop. Sonic still held the yellow emerald in one hand.  
  
The hedgehog's eyes scanned the room, assessing the situation. He saw Amy in Shadow's grip and aimed a dangerous glare towards the black hedgehog, who responded by contemptuously raising an eyebrow. Sonic was uncomfortably aware of the black eye that Shadow had inflicted on him, and was glad when Shadow did not mention it.  
  
Then Sonic's gaze shifted to Robotnik.  
  
"So I'm here. Now what?"  
  
Robotnik trained his walker's weapon on Amy, and gestured for Shadow to release her; he did so, then sidled behind Sonic and Tails, blocking any chance of an exit.  
  
"Put the Chaos Emerald down over there," Robotnik ordered. "Slowly. If you really care for your girlfriend, you'll do as you're told."  
  
Sonic considered the small amber emerald. Then he turned to Tails, who nodded slightly.  
  
Go for it.  
  
If he did as Robotnik asked, he would be able to kill two badniks with one stone- sabotaging the cannon and rescuing Amy at the same time.  
  
The blue hedgehog's forehead creased into a frown. Robotnik wasn't just going to let them leave; that just wasn't the way things worked. The madman doubtless had something up his sleeve…  
  
Well, Sonic would cross that bridge when he came to it. Whatever happened, he would think of something. As always.  
  
Sonic stepped forwards, grinning confidently.  
  
"You've turned into a big time villain, Doctor," he taunted, before aiming a reassuring look at Amy. He placed the fake emerald carefully on the floor.  
  
Amy heard a sharp intake of breath behind her, turned, saw Shadow quickly step backwards. His eyes were fixed on the floor at Sonic's feet. Then they flicked to the ceiling.  
  
"Not that," he said quietly…  
  
"Sonic!" Amy yelled.  
  
At the same moment, Sonic saw that he was standing in a small circle on the floor…  
  
Robotnik pushed a button in his cockpit.  
  
"Trap!!" Sonic thought, too late.  
  
Before even Sonic's super- fast reflexes could kick in, a cylindrical, glassy force field sprung up around him and the emerald; then a circular piece of metal dropped from the ceiling, stopping just above Sonic's head and sealing the tiny chamber with a faint pop.  
  
A loud peal of laughter rippled out from Robotnik, drowning out Amy and Tails' gasps. Shadow stood motionless, he was staring towards the capsule but not exactly focusing on it- it was as if he was looking beyond it and seeing another time.  
  
Sonic just scowled. "Oh, great."  
  
"You thought you were being clever, didn't you?" Robotnik gloated at the captive hedgehog. "Trying to fool me with a fake emerald."  
  
Sonic blinked. He was surprised that Robotnik had figured it out, but had the sense not to open his mouth about it. He could still sweet-talk his way out of this one…  
  
Tails, however…  
  
"How did you know it was a fake?" queried the fox.  
  
Sonic put a hand to his forehead and groaned. Robotnik chuckled, his ovoid body quivering.  
  
"Because you just told me, fox boy!" he roared.  
  
"Pixel Brain!!" Sonic hissed. Tails winced and looked down apologetically.  
  
"Fools. They think they can compete with my intellect." Robotnik grinned, then turned back to Sonic. "I expected you to put up more of a fight," He mused thoughtfully. "No matter. Now I get to watch you die…"  
  
"I don't think so, lard belly-" Sonic snarled.  
  
"Oh, there's no escape this time," continued the human. "In 30 seconds, you will be ejected into space. And when the capsule clears the colony… BAM!"  
  
"I guess blowing things up is your new hobby," Sonic snapped defiantly. "You should get a life." He began to drop into a crouch; there was no room to rev up into a full Spin Attack in there, but Sonic reasoned that a Sonic Cyclone would blow the top of this thing just as easily. He'd done it before.  
  
"I wouldn't." Robotnik cautioned. "If anything so much as touches that force field, the capsule will detonate. You wouldn't want to take your friends out with you." He grinned. Friends could be such a weakness sometimes; it was times like this that Robotnik was glad he didn't have any.  
  
Sonic glared at his old enemy for a moment, then his eyes roved over his surroundings.  
  
He had to think! There had to be a way out of this. Wasn't there always? Where was that plan?!  
  
Try as he might, Sonic couldn't think of one.  
  
Disbelief and desperation vied for supremacy in his mind. Was this really the end?  
  
"Any last words?" Robotnik asked cheerfully.  
  
Sonic ignored him. If this was it, he was going to face it with dignity.  
  
"Tails," he said firmly, looking unwaveringly at his sidekick and friend. "I'm counting on you. You have to stop the Eclipse Cannon…"  
  
"Y…yes Sonic… I'll try." Sniffed the fox, trying to sound brave. Sonic smiled.  
  
"You can do it. You've been hanging out with me, remember?" Tails allowed himself a small, sad smile, and nodded.  
  
Sonic turned to Amy.  
  
"Take care of yourself, huh?"  
  
There was more emotion in those five words than Amy would have believed; Sonic had never spoken to her with such affection before. She felt her eyes fill up, and tried to fix Sonic's image into her mind.  
  
His gaze was fixed on Robotnik, and his green eyes flashed with defiance. Robotnik obviously wanted to see Sonic humiliated, nothing would please him more than witnessing the hedgehog break down.  
  
Sonic would not give him the satisfaction.  
  
"You won't win, Robotnik," he said quite calmly. "Whether I'm here or not, my friends will stop you. You're going down."  
  
"Bah!" Robotnik snarled. There was a whoosh, and Sonic's capsule was sucked through the floor, which closed behind it.  
  
Amy ran to the window.  
  
A silvery speck flew past against the stars, and winked out of sight.  
  
Moments later, there was a small explosion in the distance.  
  
"SONIC…" She wailed, and put a hand on the glass. She sobbed and slid slowly to her knees.  
  
Tails shook his head in disbelief.  
  
"No…" he whispered. As his eyes scanned the blackness of space, he raised his voice for everyone to hear. "I guess it's up to me now. I promise you, Sonic… I'll try."  
  
As he said those words, the young fox didn't notice a pair of anguished red eyes focus on him.  
  
"It's happening all over again," Shadow thought, perhaps a little surprised at the effect the others' pain had on him. A memory tried to rise to the surface, and he shuddered as he fought off the impending flashback.  
  
Shadow's gaze moved to Amy. The look on her face-  
  
Grief! Pain!  
  
Then it was as if someone had switched off a light. Her face went completely blank, devoid of all emotion.  
  
Shadow knew how it felt to be numb like that. He also knew that he next time he saw her, Amy's eyes would probably be filled with hate and rage--  
  
--Towards him--  
  
Agonising memories ran through his head, and the black hedgehog let out a small groan before disappearing in a flash of light.  
  
Robotnik observed Shadow's abrupt exit with puzzlement. The hedgehog's behaviour was strange, but even without his protection Robotnik wasn't afraid as he had been on Prison Island. There he had been vulnerable. Now he had the upper hand.  
  
And finally, after years of humiliation, he had got rid of that annoying blue spikeball!  
  
Robotnik grinned at the two miserable animals.  
  
"And now the fun is over, let's get back to business. The real Chaos Emerald, if you please?"  
  
To be continued…  
  
Tails faces off against Robotnik in a battle for the Chaos Emerald. Is it really the end for Sonic?  
  
Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation - part 9.  
  
"Darkness and Light" 


	9. Darkness & Light

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 9.  
  
"Darkness and Light"  
  
By Thalia 'RockChick' Evans.  
  
  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: Space Colony ARK, Control Room 1b  
  
Cannon Countdown: 6 hours  
  
"The real Chaos Emerald, if you please?" Robotnik grinned.  
  
Amy barely even heard him. She was on her knees on the cold metal floor, staring blankly into space. Through the window, the last traces of the distant explosion had faded away, but still it played over and over in her mind.  
  
Sonic was gone…  
  
Really gone.  
  
The pink hedgehog did not go into hysterics, as she would have expected. The emotion had hit her and gone. Everything seemed distant now, and strangely calm.  
  
No coming back this time…  
  
She remembered when they had first met. Back then, Amy had had a silly crush on the teenaged Sonic, with his unique looks, courage and rebellious attitude. Over time, the crush had turned into friendship and respect; recently, it may have become something more than that. She had always wondered if he felt the same way- Sonic's last words to her had suggested as much…  
  
But now she would never know…  
  
Across the room, Robotnik's walker advanced on an equally distraught Tails. Amy gazed at them dully.  
  
"My readings tell me," the mad scientist began, "That you have the emerald in that degenerate tin can of yours. Give it to me."  
  
The fox raised his head. The last thing he wanted to do now was fight, he felt like curling into a ball and staying put.  
  
But he had promised…  
  
Tails made his walker get to its feet. He was scared- after all, what could he do without Sonic? -But he knew it was all up to him now.  
  
"No way, Robotnik." He said, voice wavering a little as he tried to put as much conviction into the words as possible. "Sonic asked me to do something for him. I won't let him down!" Tails reminded himself of what Robotnik had done to the hedgehog. Sonic, who had saved Tails' life on the first day they met, and who had been his best friend ever since. Now, looking at Robotnik the murderer, the young fox found that he actually wanted to fight.  
  
"That means that if you want the Chaos Emerald, you'll have to take it from me."  
  
Robotnik snarled. The two adversaries circled, the weapons of each machine trained on the other. The blue and yellow Cyclone and the grey Egg Walker seemed equally matched, but the real test was yet to come…  
  
Tails fired the first shot. Robotnik's machine ducked clumsily, and the energy blast pinged off the reinforced window. Cursing as the Egg Walker swung out of the way, Tails took aim once more.  
  
This time, Robotnik's device rocked back like a wounded dinosaur as the shot smacked home, impacting below the windscreen and shattering the single headlight.  
  
Strangely, Robotnik laughed as he regained his balance.  
  
"Face it, that relic can't compete with my technology."  
  
"Aaah!" Tails shielded his face as a volley of rapid-fire shots thudded into the Cyclone's side. Checking the dials in the cockpit, the two-tailed pilot was relieved to find that the tough craft hadn't sustained major damage.  
  
Tails retaliated with a homing beam, which hit the leg of the Egg Walker, causing it to list to one side. The grey machine took a lurching step forwards and fired another stream of missiles, while Tails pushed his own craft into a lumbering run. The missiles plummeted harmlessly into the floor.  
  
The Cyclone's cockpit swivelled towards Robotnik as Tails circled the perimeter of the room.  
  
The Egg Walker's legs were it's weak spot, Tails thought. It was already damaged- if he could take its legs out from under it, Robotnik would be finished.  
  
A laser beam narrowly missed Tails' head. The fox made a sharp turn, cutting across the middle of the room. Coming in for the kill.  
  
He didn't think about the legs of his own walker…  
  
Suddenly, the cockpit shuddered. Mistakenly thinking he had taken a hit, Tails checked his readouts. Nothing wrong.  
  
The Cyclone attempted to take a step forward, and there was a hideous screech of tearing metal.  
  
Servos screamed in protest as the machine tipped over and collapsed, the front crumpling against the floor. Tails, finding his nose inches from the ground, hastily scrambled out of the cockpit to inspect the damage.  
  
"Oh, no…" he groaned, seeing the wreckage of the Cyclone's left leg. The metallic foot must have got caught in the join in the floor that marked where the escape pods were launched. The walker had torn itself apart trying to get free, leaving a mass of twisted metal and sparking wires.  
  
Tails' battle had been ended by the same thing that had caused Sonic's downfall.  
  
And it got worse…  
  
Tails looked up, only to see that the box containing the blue Chaos Emerald had been thrown clear. It skidded across the room, coming to a halt at the feet of the Egg Walker.  
  
Tails groaned. Robotnik chuckled, and making the machine bend down, scooped up the precious box.  
  
"Now, what have we here?" he gloated, checking the contents. His round face split into an ugly grin. "Thank you for providing me with this." The walker began to limp towards the door. Before leaving, Robotnik paused and looked back. Tails, whose face was a picture of misery, and Amy, still in shock, stared up at him.  
  
"Now I have the six Chaos Emeralds, I can show those ungrateful wretches on Mobius what the Eclipse Cannon is really capable of." As he thought for a moment, the human waved a hand at the large, round window, through which Planet Mobius was visible. "I think I'll leave you two in here. That way, you can watch me wipe the Emerald Hill Zone off the face of the planet." With that, Robotnik chuckled and left the room, the door sliding shut and locking behind him. The two animals heard the footsteps of the Egg Walker fade into the distance as Robotnik made his way to the cannon control room.  
  
"What now?" Amy said finally, coming out of her trance a little. Tails gave her a hopeless look. His two tails dragged on the floor as he walked over to the Cyclone wreckage, and he sat sullenly on it.  
  
"Now nothing." He moaned, staring at the floor. "I promised Sonic I'd stop that madman, and I failed him."  
  
Tails lifted his head to stare out of the window, and his eyes were bright with tears.  
  
"Looks like Robotnik has won after all."  
  
* * * *  
  
A few minutes earlier…  
  
The small escape pod blasted out of the underside of ARK. It began to spin, end over end, but it's artificial gravity kept its contents firmly attached to the floor. Machinery built into the capsule could provide enough breathable air to reach the planet below.  
  
Neither device was required to work for long this time, though.  
  
Inside the small capsule, Sonic had a dizzying, alternating view of Mobius and ARK. The capsule was moving away from the space colony at alarming speed, and when it was far enough away, it was going to explode…  
  
Sonic thought morbidly that this was the last time he would see Planet Mobius.  
  
"No, I mustn't think like that," he told himself firmly. There had to be a way out of this, somehow. He'd been in worse situations.  
  
Hadn't he?!  
  
This was one time when Sonic was prepared to admit that he was afraid. There was nothing but cold, empty space out there, but he still felt like trying to break out of that capsule- space or no space. Not that it would do him any good; the pod would blow up the moment he touched the force field.  
  
"Arghhh," he thought.  
  
Sonic forced himself to calm down and think rationally. He found himself feeling fiercely jealous of Shadow, he wouldn't have any problem escaping…  
  
Sonic's gaze was drawn to the fake Chaos Emerald that was in the capsule with him.  
  
"Shadow? I wonder…"  
  
Maybe he could do it. After all, Sonic's abilities were very similar to Shadow's, so why shouldn't it work? Especially with an energy boost from the fake emerald, which contained at least some Chaos energy?  
  
An alarm began to sound in the escape pod. No more time to think. Sonic grabbed the yellow emerald in both hands, allowing its' energy to flow through him. At the same time, he tapped into his own reserves of power as if he was going to use the Lightspeed Attack.  
  
The hedgehog desperately concentrated on being somewhere else, it didn't matter where- as long as wasn't in that capsule!  
  
"Chaos control!" he yelled.  
  
Too late… the alarm was suddenly louder, much louder, then it cut off altogether. Sonic saw the capsule's surrounding force field begin to glow a brilliant, deadly white--  
  
Then he shuddered as a wave of Chaos energy passed through him, there was a strange wrenching sensation, and he was out of there.  
  
* * * *  
  
At first, Sonic wondered where he was. Then he realised that he wasn't really anywhere at all. It was an emerald-coloured nothingness, something like the limbo between timelines that he had travelled through when using the Time Stone- except that there he had had a body. Here, in this realm of Chaos, he existed as a disembodied consciousness, a being of pure energy.  
  
And that energy was quickly fading…  
  
Something was wrong; he should have re-materialised somewhere by now. Sonic couldn't stay in this strange plane of reality for long. Soon, he realised, he would be absorbed into the nothingness.  
  
His escape route was turning into yet another trap!  
  
Concentrating, Sonic found that he could sense things in the real world. He figured that must be how Chaos Control worked. You had to choose somewhere, then travel to it using this green limbo.  
  
He could sense Planet Mobius below, but knew he didn't have enough energy to reach it. ARK was nearer, the Chaos Emeralds shining out like brilliant lights. Again, Sonic wasn't sure if he could make it. Besides, he didn't want to risk re-appearing inside the Eclipse Cannon itself, which could be deadly.  
  
Panicking a little, Sonic frantically sought somewhere to go.  
  
Suddenly, something changed- a nearby Chaos signal abruptly strengthened into a glowing beacon…  
  
Sonic didn't know what it was, but it was close. He struck out for this light in the dark…  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Location: Outside surface of ARK  
  
Time: A few seconds earlier  
  
Knuckles examined the small, green shard in his hand. Sharp and roughly triangular, it didn't look like much- but the echidna knew how vitally important it was.  
  
This was the final piece of the jigsaw…  
  
He stood up and regarded the nearly complete Master Emerald, which was covered in a spiderweb of cracks. Now was the moment of truth, now he would discover if he could really restore the seventh Chaos Emerald.  
  
Before he could put the fragment into it's rightful place, however, something caught his eye.  
  
In the distance, a silvery speck arced past, then exploded in a small flare of light.  
  
He shrugged. It was probably just debris, nothing important.  
  
With that, the scarlet echidna slipped the emerald shard into the notch in the side of the Master Emerald, stood back, and waited.  
  
For a moment or so, nothing happened. Knuckles was crestfallen- perhaps there were more pieces to find, or maybe he was just attempting the impossible.  
  
Then…  
  
The emerald began to glow a brilliant, frightening green. The radiance became steadily brighter, until Knuckles had to shade his indigo eyes from the glare. Quickly, however, it faded back to the usual eerie glow of a Chaos Emerald.  
  
The monotreme examined the large, green gem. It was a little smaller than usual, because its energy was drained, but apart from that it was perfect. There were no chips, and no cracks marred the surface. The Master Emerald was healed and whole once more.  
  
Normally serious, Knuckles allowed himself a whoop of triumph and punched the air.  
  
"Yess!!"  
  
But then he frowned. Something was happening--  
  
"What the…"  
  
There was a fitful green glow in the air, about two metres off the floor. It flickered, dimming almost to nothing, then became brighter until…  
  
Frassh!  
  
There was a brilliant flash of light. Something hit the floor heavily.  
  
Knuckles frowned at it.  
  
"Sonic?"  
  
"Urghhh…" he groaned in reply. Knuckles helped the exhausted- looking hedgehog to his feet, supporting him until he could stand for himself.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"It's not as easy… as Shadow makes it look," Sonic panted. "I'm okay. Just didn't realise that Chaos Control was so tiring…" He hadn't expected it would take so much out of him. Sonic usually felt shaky for a few moments after using the Lightspeed Attack, but nothing like this…  
  
"Run into a wall, did you?" he said eventually, glancing at Knuckles' emerging black eye as he started to recover.  
  
"Very funny." Groaned Knuckles. "I see there's nothing wrong with your sense of humour, even if you do look like roadkill." Then the echidna noticed something else. "Hey, where did your black eye go?"  
  
Sonic's hand went to his face, then to his back. Both wounds had almost disappeared.  
  
"I heal faster when I use Chaos energy. It's happened before," he shrugged.  
  
Then he looked down at the yellow emerald in his other hand, a funny expression on his face.  
  
"What?" Knuckles frowned.  
  
"Nothing. It's just weird…"  
  
"You're weird, you mean." Knuckles shook his head.  
  
Sonic continued to stare at the emerald for a few seconds. It had been a pretty desperate situation back there, and it seemed strangely fitting that he had used Chaos to get out of it. Then he looked up, turning back to the matter at hand.  
  
"Red," he began, "Can you do me a favour?"  
  
The echidna stared. Sonic didn't ask favours often, and when he did, he was serious. This time, he seemed concerned about something.  
  
Knuckles nodded yes.  
  
"I'm worried about Tails and Amy. Can you make sure they're all right? I think they're in one of the control rooms."  
  
"Sure," said Knuckles, surprised.  
  
"Thanks, pal. I owe you one." Sonic ran off, having got his breath back, and disappeared into the distance.  
  
Knuckles stuffed the Master Emerald into his bag, and set off in the other direction.  
  
* * * *  
  
Elsewhere on ARK…  
  
Shadow paced down familiar but long abandoned corridors. He wasn't headed anywhere in particular- he was just walking, because he couldn't think of anything else to do. The flashbacks were coming more quickly now. It was as if seeing Sonic blasted into space, and the reactions of the blue hedgehog's friends, had been a sort of catalyst. Emotions and memories he had buried for so long were coming to the surface. The protective shell he had built up around his mind had cracked.  
  
Every so often, he would look up to see that the lights were brighter, the rust and cobwebs gone, an occasional ghostly scientist passing by on some long-ago business.  
  
He thought he might be going crazy. Maybe he already was crazy…  
  
Not really thinking about it, he turned left, into a room. It was an old lab, complete with examination table and dilapidated equipment-  
  
-And realised that even though he thought he'd been wandering aimlessly, all the time his feet had been taking him here…  
  
Shadow recognised this place; he had spent most of the first few weeks of his life there.  
  
Cautiously, the black hedgehog reached out and touched the table--  
  
* * * *  
  
--Dr. Gerald Kintobor finished taking his readings, and examined the screen of the portable computer.  
  
"Mmmm." He said thoughtfully.  
  
Shadow slipped of the table and got to his feet, regarding the scientist curiously.  
  
"What is it?" he asked.  
  
A casual observer would have assumed that the striking black and red hedgehog was about eighteen years old. If they'd found out that he had emerged fully grown from a tank two weeks before, they would have been surprised. If they had spoken to him, it would have been more obvious…  
  
During development, Shadow had been implanted with basic knowledge such as language. But as yet, he had no real experience of dealing with people; although that would soon change- he was a fast learner. Perhaps too fast…  
  
But all that was yet to come. At this point in time, Shadow was simply a curious young hedgehog with little real knowledge of the world, life or even his own identity.  
  
"Don't worry, nothing's wrong," Gerald reassured him. "Your energy level is completely stable. I was thinking that you should be able to learn to control that energy."  
  
"Ah, that." Shadow blinked. "You mean…"  
  
--He disappeared.  
  
Dr. Gerald's jaw almost hit the floor.  
  
--Shadow reappeared in one of ARK's many corridors. This was one of the few places he had been before, the corridor between two of the laboratories. He hadn't warped out like that before, and hadn't really expected that would be the result of tapping into the energy that he could feel inside him.  
  
It had been quite easy though. Shadow's control of the Chaos energy was instinctive.  
  
He thought: "Chaos Control."  
  
And now he was finally out of that lab! He expected Dr. Gerald would be surprised, maybe angry. But Shadow wanted to find out if there was anything beyond his tiny world of lab and corridor.  
  
Burning with curiosity, the black hedgehog started to explore.  
  
He ran into the girl in another corridor, some time later. She was in her early teens, with blue eyes and dark blonde hair.  
  
"Hi," She said. Shadow blinked. Not having met many people, he didn't know how to act.  
  
"…Hi…" he replied cautiously. She smiled.  
  
"Don't be nervous. My name's Maria…"  
  
"I'm Shadow," said the hedgehog.  
  
"Grandpa was telling me about you. You're not supposed to be out here, are you?"  
  
"I guess not," he responded, a bit guiltily.  
  
"It's alright. I won't tell."  
  
"Oh." Shadow was confused again. Everyone else he had met seemed either to be slightly scared of him, or wanted to examine him with a magnifying glass. This was… different…  
  
"We can be friends if you like. It can get really lonely here," she continued. Shadow sighed.  
  
"I know." He paused. Then: "I… I haven't had any friends before."  
  
"Hey," Maria said unexpectedly, "Have you ever seen the view from the control room?"  
  
He shook his head.  
  
"You'll like it. C'mon!"  
  
* * * *  
  
"If only I'd known…" Shadow murmured. If only he had realised that a few short months later, she would be dead. Maria had sacrificed herself by helping him escape, and he hadn't been able to save her.  
  
Maybe this was how Sonic's friends felt now.  
  
Shadow shook his head. Why should he care about them? They were nothing to him! Just obstacles in the way to avenging Maria's death: nothing else mattered. Just vengeance.  
  
"That's… what I…promised…" he said haltingly.  
  
Or was it…  
  
The hedgehog frowned; there was something missing. Something Maria had said that he couldn't quite recall.  
  
Maybe these flashbacks were trying to tell him something.  
  
But no matter how hard he tried, Shadow could not make himself remember. The memory was there, just out of reach- but remembering would mean facing the past, and all the turmoil that went with it. He couldn't afford to be weakened by those feelings.  
  
And… it hurt so much…  
  
A loud beeping destroyed the silence of the room!  
  
Shadow jolted and instantly dropped into a crouch, eyes sweeping from side to side, tense for an expected attack.  
  
Caught off-guard again…  
  
It took a few moments before the agitated hedgehog realised the noise was coming from his communicator.  
  
He speared it with a glare, blood-red eyes narrowed to slits of rage.  
  
"What??"  
  
"I see you got out the wrong side of the test tube this morning," Came the surprised voice on the other end.  
  
Shadow growled.  
  
"What do you want, Robotnik?"  
  
"I have the last Chaos Emerald," the Doctor said happily. "The cannon should be ready to fire soon."  
  
"Good," Shadow replied, without much conviction. "I'm on my way." He switched off the wrist device…  
  
Wait…  
  
What was that?  
  
The black hedgehog reached out with his enhanced Chaos senses, and picked up the odd energy signatures. A big one, outside ARK, and two together, heading for the Cannon. One of these was weak and unstable. But it was the other that interested him.  
  
As he warped out, the expression on Shadow's face was not quite a smile.  
  
But it was close…  
  
* * * *  
  
Meanwhile, outside ARK…  
  
Sonic had been searching for an airlock for the past couple of minutes, not wanting to risk trying Chaos Control again- he still felt tired from his last attempt.  
  
Navigating the metallic surface of the space colony was like getting around Metropolis City. Worse, Sonic thought, leaping over another gaping chasm. It was more like the Oil Ocean Zone!  
  
He suddenly came across another one of those pipes. What they were for, Sonic couldn't guess. It was probably something to do with the artificial gravity or the power supply. Whatever. That was science stuff, therefore boring.  
  
The pipes were narrow, brightly coloured and snaked in and out of the maze of towers and platforms that formed the 'face' of ARK. The important thing, though, was you could grind on them.  
  
The hedgehog was a bit suspicious of these pipes, though. The closer to the centre of ARK's disk he got, the more erratic the gravity became- meaning that a couple of times, he'd reached the end of a pipe to find the gravity had reversed somewhere along its twisting path. Once he had found himself standing on the bottom of the platform he had started out on…  
  
But sometimes, it was the only way to travel.  
  
Sonic jumped onto the orange and white pipe and slid down it. This one lead to a lower level, no, wait, a higher level. There had been another disorienting gravity flip…  
  
The blue hedgehog found he was now quite close to the pointed tower that could only be the Eclipse Cannon. It now appeared to be pointing downwards.  
  
But 'close' was a relative word. The colony was a big place after all- the Cannon was still a few miles away, and separated from the rest of ARK by a fathomless drop. The usual towers and platforms were now somewhere above Sonic's head, as he now found himself standing on a narrow catwalk leading to the Cannon. It was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side.  
  
He looked down…  
  
Space.  
  
"Yikes."  
  
Definitely not a good idea to fall off. Sonic had been mistaken for a meteorite once before, and he had no intention of doing so again.  
  
He eyed the Cannon speculatively, wondering if throwing the fake emerald into that tower would have the desired effect- or whether he should go back to the original plan of finding the other Chaos Emeralds. His Chaos-sense told him they were somewhere directly above, so he guessed it would probably work.  
  
But there wasn't any more time to make plans.  
  
Something was happening…  
  
The bridge began to vibrate under Sonic's feet. He spread out his arms for balance, hearing a low pitched hum begin somewhere within the depths of ARK.  
  
The amount of Chaos energy in the Cannon began to rise.  
  
"Uh oh." Sonic hissed. "Either this is not good, or I need my head checked!"  
  
Sonic's suspicion was quickly proven correct. An alarm suddenly boomed from a speaker somewhere:  
  
"Alert! Alert! Clear the area. Eclipse Cannon firing in 5 minutes, 59 seconds. Target locked: Emerald Hill Zone, Planet Mobius."  
  
Sonic started.  
  
"Six minutes?! What happened to 6 hours?!!"  
  
There were only two sensible reasons for the sudden shortening of the countdown: Robotnik had either managed to get the Chaos Emerald from Tails, or the Master Emerald from Knuckles. The hedgehog didn't know which- the level of Chaos energy in the area was now so high that he couldn't pinpoint any one energy signature, which would have allowed him to locate the Master Emerald or the blue emerald quickly.  
  
Sonic felt a pang of worry towards Tails, Amy and Knuckles. If Robotnik had got one of the two remaining Chaos Emeralds, then something must have happened…  
  
"Robotnik- if you've hurt my friends, you're gonna pay for it," he muttered to himself, trying to ward off the guilty feeling that was starting to surface.  
  
He shouldn't have left them to fend for themselves. He should have been able to avoid Robotnik's trap--  
  
…In the same way that he should have been able to connect that power cable, when Chaos…  
  
No, Sonic thought; there was a time to think about that, and it wasn't now. Right now he had a job to do, his home zone was at risk and hundreds would die unless he stopped the Eclipse Cannon from firing.  
  
Sonic could not afford to fail this time.  
  
The blue hedgehog took the first step of a run towards the Cannon's tower…  
  
"Do you really think it's going to be that easy?" Someone said beside him.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Cannon Countdown: 00:05:30…  
  
Sonic stopped and turned towards the voice.  
  
"Should have known you were gonna turn up, Stripe," Sonic groaned.  
  
Shadow ignored the nickname, and regarded Sonic intently. The blue hedgehog's black eye had healed; he looked tired, but otherwise none the worse for his brief trip into space.  
  
"So, how did you escape?" Sonic was a little surprised at the dark hedgehog's unusual curiosity, but knew he didn't have time for this. He supplied a quick reply with a crooked grin.  
  
"What can I say? I die hard." However, he then thought of the contempt Shadow had shown towards him on their every encounter- and decided it was time he was brought down a peg.  
  
"Actually… let's just say that you're not the only one who can use Chaos Control."  
  
However, the reaction of the other hedgehog was not what Sonic had expected or wanted. He was neither angry nor shocked that his abilities could be equalled by a mere 'impostor'.  
  
In fact, Shadow thought it made perfect sense. The use of Chaos energy would explain how Sonic's injuries had healed so quickly- too quickly, in fact. The blue hedgehog must have used up a massive amount of energy to produce a side effect like that; it had no doubt put an incredible strain on his body and left him exhausted- if it wasn't for the fake emerald's energy, he probably wouldn't be standing right now. It was a mistake that Shadow rarely ever made. He had learned to judge exactly how much power was required…  
  
There, he realised, lay Sonic's weakness. He had power, a lot of it, but little real control.  
  
Still, to be able to manipulate that much energy at all… and without the effect on the mind that often came from doing so. That was amazing in itself. Shadow was chaotic by design- while as far as he knew, Sonic was not.  
  
"So you aren't just an ordinary hedgehog. Then tell me: what are you?"  
  
Sonic answered his question confidently and without hesitation.  
  
"I'm an adventurer and a freedom fighter. I'm Sonic the hedgehog!"  
  
Shadow looked down for a second.  
  
"That's enough for you, isn't it…" he said quietly. Then the ruby eyes lifted to meet Sonic's green ones.  
  
"You do realise that I can't let you live," Shadow continued. "I have a purpose here. I won't let you stop me from fulfilling it."  
  
"That makes two of us," Sonic nodded, gesturing towards the planet below. "It's my duty to save the people down there, and help my friends."  
  
"It's also your greatest mistake," Shadow replied, and leaped into attack…  
  
* * * *  
  
A battle between two supersonic hedgehogs is like no other, especially when it takes place on a narrow catwalk suspended over a yawning abyss. Bouts of dodging and running were interspersed with short, vicious clashes- Sonic and Shadow were currently involved in the latter.  
  
Sonic had quickly found himself in trouble. He knew that Shadow could not corner quite as well as he could- but in terms of speed and endurance, the black hedgehog had the upper hand. The fact that they were on a straight cost Sonic any advantage he might have had; plus, he was carrying the fake emerald, which left him the use of only his right hand.  
  
At that point Shadow was on his left hand side, so Sonic attempted to elbow him in the ribs. However, by the time the elbow got there, the other hedgehog was long gone.  
  
Sonic blinked to clear the last traces of the green flash from his vision, and looked around frantically.  
  
He couldn't see Shadow anywhere. Couldn't pick up his energy trace either, not with all the background radiation…  
  
"Hey, Darth Maul! Where'd ya go?"  
  
Something slammed into his back, knocking the blue hedgehog to the ground. Shadow shot over his head and was gone.  
  
Sonic muttered something about getting run over, then got up and gave chase- but Shadow had turned and was coming back his way.  
  
"So you wanna play chicken, huh?" Sonic said under his breath, accelerating to meet his opponent.  
  
Neither hedgehog was willing to get out of the other's way. They collided in the middle of the catwalk, both instinctively curling into a ball at the last second and bouncing back into the air.  
  
Sonic landed on his feet near the edge, nearly toppling over- but just succeeding in keeping his balance.  
  
They paused for a moment, looking for an opening to attack.  
  
"Give up, blue hedgehog." Shadow said ominously.  
  
"Never!"  
  
"Cannon firing in 2 minutes, 30 seconds…" warned the voice over the loudspeaker.  
  
Eyes widening, Sonic turned to face the Cannon tower behind him. The conical structure was starting to open…  
  
"No time!" he hissed, rocketing towards the Cannon. Shadow would have to wait…  
  
…which was something the black hedgehog certainly did not want to do. Within moments, he was gliding effortlessly along at Sonic's right hand side.  
  
"Why are you trying to save those people?" Shadow sneered.  
  
"Why are you trying to destroy them?" Countered Sonic, eyes still fixed on the Eclipse Cannon's expanding tower.  
  
Shadow snarled.  
  
"Justice!"  
  
He crouched slightly and violently jerked his head to the side, so that the sharp tip of one spike raked across Sonic's ribs. The blue hedgehog yelled in pain and fell back a little.  
  
Seeing his chance, Shadow completed the movement by slamming his whole weight into his dazed opponent. The shove was enough to knock him over the edge…  
  
Shadow stopped and regarded the empty catwalk thoughtfully. He almost regretted having to finish Sonic off like that, as he was starting to feel something like respect for this strangely determined hedgehog.  
  
He peered over the edge.  
  
* * * *  
  
Sonic was hanging off the catwalk by his right hand, his left still gripping the yellow emerald.  
  
"I hate cliffhangers," He thought, as he toyed briefly with the idea of using Chaos Control to get out of this one. No way that would work- he could try warping out and reappearing back on the catwalk or by the Cannon, but would he be able to materialise precisely on target? Probably not, and being out by even a metre might leave him drifting through space.  
  
Which was exactly what was going to happen, he reminded himself, if he stayed put. His grip on the catwalk slipped a little as ARK's messed-up gravity tried to push him away.  
  
Sonic tried to pull himself up, and gasped as pain exploded in his side; giving up the attempt, he glanced down at the bloodstain spreading through his fur. Cursing, he looked up to see Shadow examining him curiously. He was obviously considering tipping Sonic over the edge.  
  
"Don't you ever give up?" the black hedgehog inquired.  
  
"No…not when people are counting on me. I have friends down there!" his fingers slipped a bit more.  
  
"Why waste your time with them?" Shadow frowned. "They don't deserve it. Friends indeed. All those people want to do is destroy…"  
  
Sonic's eyes filled with fury.  
  
"You're no different! But you don't even understand, do you?" he spat. "I let someone down once, I won't do it again," Sonic added, voice becoming a whisper.  
  
His hand slipped completely off the edge.  
  
Shadow's eyes narrowed. He hissed in annoyance, then his own hand flashed out and grabbed Sonic's wrist.  
  
His other hand gripping the edge of the platform for balance, he pulled the blue hedgehog up.  
  
Sonic got to his feet. His hand pressed to his side to stop the blood loss; luckily, the wound wasn't too bad.  
  
"Why…?" he asked confusedly.  
  
Shadow had moved off some way down the platform. He heard Sonic's quiet question and looked back.  
  
"I thought like you once," he said, a ghost of sadness in his voice. "I know better now."  
  
Sonic nodded. He finally saw what Amy and Shade had seen; that bleak hopelessness was something he knew only too well.  
  
"Did you lose someone, Shadow?" he said gently.  
  
Shadow did not reply, just walked away from Sonic and the Eclipse Cannon. Eventually he spoke.  
  
"Go help your…friends. I won't stop you."  
  
A quick flash of green light signalled the end of this encounter. For a second, Sonic stared at the spot where the other hedgehog had been, wearing a puzzled frown- then the loudspeaker announced that the cannon would fire in thirty seconds.  
  
Sonic shook his head, then turned and ran painfully towards the Cannon.  
  
The catwalk came to an abrupt end ten or so metres before the Cannon. The tower was fully open now, and Sonic could see no safe way to reach it. There was no time for 'safe'. With a mental shrug, he launched himself off the end, into empty space.  
  
Sonic flew between two of the petal-like sections of the tower, his momentum carrying him directly below the Cannon itself. There was a flip, and the Cannon was suddenly below his feet- the gravity had reversed again.  
  
Sonic looked down. The huge structure resembled a deadly, metallic flower, with a core of blue-white energy at its heart. He had the feeling of looking down the barrel of a gun as the gravity began to pull him in.  
  
"Cannon firing in ten seconds…"  
  
Gripping the fake emerald in both hands, he raised it high above his head.  
  
"Eight seconds…"  
  
Sonic hurled the emerald as far as he could into the Cannon's core…  
  
"Six seconds…"  
  
The Chaos Emerald dwindled to a point of yellow light, then was lost in the suddenly increasing brilliance from the Eclipse Cannon.  
  
"Four…"  
  
The light was blinding now, Sonic had to shield his eyes as he plunged deeper into the engine of destruction.  
  
"Two…  
  
One…"  
  
To be continued…  
  
It's not over yet, as a message from the past reveals ARK's deepest and deadliest secret…  
  
Sonic Adventure 2 Adaptation, part 10: 'Gerald's Legacy' 


	10. Dr. Gerald's Legacy

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 10.  
  
"Dr. Gerald's Legacy"  
  
By Thalia 'RockChick' Evans.  
  
  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: Cannon Control room, ARK  
  
"Eclipse Cannon firing in ten seconds…" said the disembodied voice from the computer.  
  
Robotnik gloated at a scheme gone perfectly to plan. In a matter of seconds the Emerald Hill Zone, source of so many problems, would be a smoking crater. And it would only be the first of many. Soon, all the Zones that were of no use to him, those filled with horrible open countryside and annoying fuzzy creatures, would go the same way.  
  
And even better, there was no certain blue hedgehog to stop him. There never would be again.  
  
There were a few loose ends to be tied up, of course. Like those two miserable outlaws currently locked in the other control room, and the echidna who still had the Master Emerald. They would be dealt with, as would Rouge and Shadow- neither of whom could be trusted and were certainly of no more use to him.  
  
After that, Robotnik would make another transmission to Mobius, demanding surrender. The weak animals would undoubtedly comply.  
  
And then…  
  
…Then he would rule once more…  
  
The madman's insane, hysterical laughter echoed through the large and dimly lit room. Small splashings from the water filling part of the chamber and beepings from the electronic equipment were drowned out.  
  
Robotnik's red eyes shifted from the control panels to the six floating Chaos Emeralds and back again. He briefly wondered where Shadow was. It was strange that he wasn't here… he had wanted this, after all…  
  
"Two seconds." Said the computer.  
  
"One second--"  
  
Robotnik grinned, staring at the computer monitors. The moment had come--  
  
Suddenly, yellow fire screamed down the emerald shaft, and Robotnik cried out in terror. His walker struggled for balance as the floor under its feet jerked and shuddered.  
  
Then the lights went out. Everything was silent, still and dark, except for the glow from the Chaos Emeralds.  
  
Hesitantly, the lights flickered back on.  
  
"Malfunction," the computer announced calmly. Robotnik snarled and punched at some buttons on the control panel. No good. The cannon hadn't fired, something must have gone wrong. He could tell that it was damaged somehow, but nothing more because the controls suddenly froze up.  
  
"It won't fire! Why won't it fire?!" Robotnik muttered in desperation.  
  
"Access denied," flashed the screen.  
  
"What…"  
  
There was a bubbling and a loud splash from the dark recesses of the room, as if something had surfaced from the deep water there. Robotnik jumped and squinted towards the noise, but it was too dark; all he could see was something large and shapeless, and a reddish glow.  
  
It moved into the light. The thing reared up over the Egg Walker, and Robotnik screamed…  
  
* * * *  
  
A few seconds earlier.  
  
Tails and Amy were standing at the window of Control Room 1b, waiting for the inevitable. Neither could take their eyes away from the planet below, so peaceful and unspoiled; both knew it was the last time they would see it like this.  
  
Sonic was gone, soon their home zone would be gone too, and then the freedom of their people. Tails was trying to be brave, trying to be as calm as Sonic had been when Robotnik had ejected him into space. He was not entirely succeeding. Beside him, Amy Rose still looked like she was in shock.  
  
The countdown reached two seconds. Then one.  
  
The floor shuddered a little under their feet, and there was a muted rumble from somewhere. This is it, Tails thought.  
  
But nothing happened.  
  
There was no deadly beam lancing down to the planet below, no rain of destruction.  
  
Tails and Amy looked at each other, the same thought running through their minds.  
  
What's going on?  
  
Suddenly, there was something happening behind them- a slight crackle of static electricity that made Tails' fur stand on end.  
  
The two animals turned, just in time to see the green flash of light. Something materialised a few metres off the ground and dropped to the floor.  
  
"Why the long faces, dudes?" Sonic grinned.  
  
That was a close one, thought the hedgehog. He had nearly been toast when he fell into the cannon. Or worse, judging by the amount of Chaos energy in there. Last time something like that had happened…  
  
Lucky for him, and everyone else, that Chaos Control got easier with practice. He had got it right this time, and had found that visualising where you wanted to go before warping out made the whole thing much simpler. This time, he felt tired but not to the point of collapse.  
  
However, his energy had been focused on transportation rather than regeneration, so the cut on his side had not healed. Sonic was reminded of that when Amy hugged him.  
  
"Ow… hey! calm down, will you?!"  
  
"Sonic… is it really you?" She cried, ignoring his protests and tightening her grip.  
  
"Of course it's me, now let go before I die of suffocation!" pleaded the blue hedgehog. Amy finally relented and released him.  
  
"Yeah, that's Sonic all right…"  
  
She carefully examined his appearance, noting the slightly singed fur and the blood stain on his gloves and side.  
  
"You're hurt," She observed worriedly.  
  
"This? It's nothing." Sonic noticed thankfully that the bleeding had stopped. "I just ran into some trouble trying to stop the Eclipse Cannon. Hey- did the plan work? The cannon didn't fire, did it?"  
  
Tails shook his head. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"I'll have to congratulate Porker when we get back. Of course, it was me who did all the hard work."  
  
"But, we thought you were dead," said the fox, bewildered. "How did you escape from that capsule?"  
  
"I used a little trick I learned from Shadow," Sonic casually replied. "Handy for quick escapes and cool entrances."  
  
"That was the best entrance ever," Amy smiled sincerely. Sonic grinned, making a mock bow.  
  
"Yep, I know."  
  
Tails rolled his eyes.  
  
"Modest as ever."  
  
"Thanks." He turned towards the locked door, sensing a big Chaos energy source coming their way. "Better get out of the way, Red's here…"  
  
Sure enough, the metal door suddenly fell inwards as Knuckles' fist taught it a lesson about opening. The slightly breathless echidna rushed in, carrying the Master Emerald in its bag.  
  
"Guys-" he panted, "Sonic--"  
  
"Is already here," Finished the blue hedgehog.  
  
Knuckles sighed in exasperation as he spied his old rival.  
  
"Trust you to get here first."  
  
"What did you expect?" laughed Sonic.  
  
Suddenly, the floor shook more violently than before. Lights in the ceiling flashed crimson as ARK went to red alert, and for a few seconds sirens screamed throughout the room.  
  
"Wha--" Sonic exclaimed. The shaking died down to a mere vibration, but something was definitely wrong…  
  
* * * *  
  
Shadow was wandering the corridors once more when the alarms started.  
  
He had been thinking about why he had saved Sonic's life, when it would have been so easy to finish him there and then.  
  
It had been the same with Rouge. He shouldn't have cared; but somehow it had felt right to save her, too. He couldn't seem to face letting people die, but wasn't that what he was helping Robotnik do? Kill people?  
  
But didn't they deserve it?  
  
Yes. No.  
  
He wanted revenge.  
  
And yet… he didn't…  
  
It was so confusing. That deep- buried memory was trying to surface again, and somehow Shadow knew that it was the key to all this. But he still couldn't face it, not yet.  
  
Then it started again.  
  
The alarms. The flashing lights. Shadow clutched his head and leaned against the wall--  
  
--They were running through the corridors when one of the Mobians shot Maria; Shadow supported her, tried to stop the bleeding. She told him that they had to get to the control room… then later, he was trapped in the escape pod and she had said… something… then he had…had promised…--  
  
--Promised what…  
  
Shadow shook his head, but the red-alert lights still flashed on and off.  
  
This was no flashback; it was reality.  
  
The black hedgehog took off down the corridor, and disappeared.  
  
…he had to get to the control room…  
  
* * * *  
  
"Now what?" Knuckles groaned as the floor moved again.  
  
"I don't know, but it isn't good." Sonic noticed the view outside the window shift a little, and he frowned. He had a bad feeling about this.  
  
Another green flash illuminated the room.  
  
"Things just keep getting better," Sonic thought sarcastically, seeing the arrival of Shadow. He actually looked just as shocked to see them…  
  
"Aw no, not him again," Tails complained. Sonic gave a negative shake of his head.  
  
"I don't think he's going to attack…" he said, quietly. Shadow didn't look like he was going to do anything much, in fact. He just stared out of the window and occasionally cast a despairing glance around the room.  
  
"What's wrong with him?" The fox asked in a low voice.  
  
"I don't know, but he looks confused…" Amy observed. Sonic nodded.  
  
"He's confused, all right. First he wanted to kill me to stop me getting to the Eclipse Cannon, then he changed his mind and let me get on with it…" Sonic, of course, did not admit that Shadow had saved his life in the process.  
  
Amy was puzzled; had her first assumption been right? Was Shadow good or bad?  
  
She looked again at the black figure who was searching for answers in the image of the planet below, and finding none.  
  
Maybe he didn't even know…  
  
Suddenly, the myriad computer screens in the room lit up with a single image, and a voice issued from hidden speakers. Shadow's eyes widened and he whipped around as he recognised the voice of…  
  
"Dr. Gerald…"  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Location: ARK, Control Room 1b  
  
"That's Gerald Kintobor?" Amy asked, observing the figure on the screens. He did not look much like Dr. Ovi Kintobor. Instead, he resembled an older Robotnik- except that his bristling moustache was steel grey. The most pronounced difference was his size- Gerald was stick-thin compared to his grandson. The elderly scientist wore a white lab coat; and behind his spectacles his eyes had a hunted look. The familiar window with its view of Mobius could be seen in the background. He had been in this very room when he recorded the message.  
  
The apparition spoke, voice weary but echoing with madness.  
  
"This recording is being transmitted from the ARK space colony to planet Mobius." Tails checked a readout, and nodded to the others-it was indeed being broadcast to the planet below, just as Robotnik's earlier transmission had been.  
  
"If you are watching this broadcast, then someone has been stupid enough to try activating the Eclipse Cannon at full power…" Gerald continued,"…which proves that I was right. You people are just selfish, power hungry fools. You don't deserve to live… and you won't. I have made sure of that. No doubt the military will soon find out where I've been hiding for these past two days, but it doesn't matter now. It was long enough to complete my work here; to ensure that you will experience the pain and suffering I felt…" He trailed off, as if the memory was too much to bear, and turned away from the camera. Dr. Gerald stared silently into the blackness of space.  
  
"What's he talking about?" Sonic asked confusedly.  
  
Suddenly there was the sound of hurried footsteps outside. Sonic saw a stranger enter the room; a bat. She was a little strange looking- unlike most Mobian bats, her wings rose from her shoulders instead of being modified arms. Her eyes were emerald green, but lacked the eerie Chaos-glow of Sonic's.  
  
"Don't you ever quit?" Knuckles groaned with a mixture of admiration and annoyance. He clutched the bag containing the Master Emerald more tightly.  
  
Sonic noticed the way the echidna's eyes never left the white bat. The hedgehog searched his memory: this must be the bat girl that Red had been talking about. Whatsername…. Rouge?  
  
"No, it's…" Rouge started, but was silenced when the floor began to shake again. The vibration took longer to die out this time, and was accompanied by uneasy creaks and squeals from deep inside the space colony.  
  
"It's gettin' worse," Tails observed, once more stating the obvious.  
  
"That's what I was trying to tell you!" the bat said urgently. "It's all over for us. My boss just contacted me… he said that ARK is heading towards Mobius at an incredible velocity!"  
  
Amy gasped.  
  
"If it hits…" She didn't finish. There was no point. Everyone knew what would happen… a projectile that size could wipe out all life on the planet. Not instantaneously, of course- but the resulting fallout could block out the sun for years, leading to a slow, painful death for anyone who survived the impact.  
  
"And you knew about this?!" Sonic snarled, turning on Shadow angrily. "Is that why you let me go? Because you knew that stopping the cannon wouldn't do any good?"  
  
"No…" Shadow shook his head, obviously bewildered. "Dr. Gerald didn't tell me…I had no idea he would do something like this." The scientist had simply told him that the Eclipse Cannon would rain destruction on the world. It was intended for defensive purposes, but a person could use it for world conquest if he so chose.  
  
Or, more importantly, for revenge.  
  
"He… lied to me," Shadow finished quietly, astonished. Why was it that his world kept being turned upside down?  
  
At that moment, the silent image of Dr. Gerald turned back to its audience.  
  
"No doubt," the human began thoughtfully, "You want to know why you have been sentenced to this fate." He sighed, gathering himself for a long speech. The six animals watched intently, along with millions of others on the planet below.  
  
"You probably know that I am Dr. Gerald Kintobor," he continued. "What you don't know is that I have been engaged in some important research." The old man wearily shook his head. "Did I make a mistake by creating the Ultimate Life form? I don't know. I thought it would benefit the people of Mobius… " He paused. "How naive I was," he added finally, almost inaudibly. Then Dr. Gerald cleared his throat and carried on with his speech.  
  
"But no sooner had I completed my work, than the military tried to get their hands on it. They invaded ARK…" He scowled. "Those idiots! But I should have known this would happen. If I hadn't been so foolish… Maria would…would still be alive…" his speech became broken, grief-stricken.  
  
"My own granddaughter…killed in cold blood, while trying to help my creation escape…" Gerald stopped, unable to continue- just long enough for everyone to hear Shadow's low groan:  
  
"…My fault…"  
  
"That was two days ago. ARK has been completely shut down, probably so that the prototype doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Everyone else is gone, too…" Gerald said after a few moments. "Killed or captured- I don't know. I'm… I'm alone now, and soon they'll find me."  
  
"So this is what really happened," Amy murmured, shivering. "It's creepy."  
  
"…Something's happening to me," Dr. Gerald was saying. "I can't control my thoughts anymore…I…I think I must be going insane. I just want it all to end." Then his face split into a deranged grin, just like the one everyone had seen on Robotnik's face.  
  
"At least now I will have my revenge. As soon as someone activates the Eclipse Cannon, the ARK will start to fall towards Mobius… and when it hits, all you ungrateful creatures will be destroyed. I probably won't live to see it- but Shadow escaped, it is all up to him now… I designed his mind to be perfect…pure…"  
  
There was some commotion off-screen. A voice shouted;  
  
"Hands in the air!"  
  
Gerald laughed.  
  
"It's too late. Too late for you…"  
  
Then someone shot the camera, and the screen went black.  
  
"Whoa," Tails gasped.  
  
"We have to put a stop to this," Sonic said firmly. "There's gotta be a way." He turned to Tails.  
  
"You said this place was a lot like the Floating Island, didn't you?"  
  
"Yeah…" he replied, wondering where Sonic was going with this.  
  
"So whatever is making this place move towards Mobius is probably something to do with the Chaos Emeralds, right?"  
  
"You could be right!" Tails nodded excitedly. They both looked eagerly at Knuckles.  
  
"Red-" Sonic began hopefully, "You know how your island works. D'you think you can stop this?"  
  
"Maybe," The red echidna replied cautiously. "I have the Master Emerald, so I might be able to get the Chaos Emeralds under control- if we can find them."  
  
"Good- then let's go!" Sonic said. "I can sense their energy from here, so I shouldn't have a problem finding them." He didn't mention that there was now also another energy signal with the Chaos Emeralds. Whatever it was, it was powerful and somehow unnerving.  
  
Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Rouge began to pile out of the door. Tails turned back thoughtfully.  
  
"What about him?"  
  
Sonic followed his friend's gaze to Shadow, who was staring out of the window again, watching Mobius get slowly closer.  
  
"I don't know what to do, Maria," the blue hedgehog heard him say to himself.  
  
"Hey, Stripes. You coming?" Sonic called. Shadow looked towards the other hedgehog, but said nothing. Sonic decided to try something else.  
  
"Is that why you hate people so much? Because of Maria?"  
  
Shadow narrowed his eyes, as the fury he had kept hidden came to the surface.  
  
"Those people killed my only friend!" He snapped suddenly. "What was I supposed to think?!!"  
  
Sonic looked at him pityingly. He must have assumed that everyone from Mobius was evil… and he didn't just blame them. Shadow obviously blamed himself, too…  
  
"I think I understand," Sonic said quietly, walking over. "It wasn't your fault. And it's not ours, either."  
  
Shadow whipped around, making Sonic think for a moment that he was about to attack.  
  
"How could you possibly understand? You don't know what this feels like."  
  
Sonic sighed. He thought of the day that Johnny Lightfoot had died, and the rage he had felt towards Chaos afterwards. Rage and guilt which had never left him. Those emotions had nearly driven him over the edge, and he had only survived because he had friends to help him and a job to do. Shadow had neither. He had survived by retreating into himself, kept going only by the prospect of vengeance…  
  
And Sonic had to admit it. Thinking of revenge against Chaos had helped keep him going, too…  
  
"It's like… like a part of your soul has died…" Sonic said eventually.  
  
Shadow held his gaze for a moment, then turned back to the window.  
  
"Just leave me alone."  
  
Sonic sighed and made his way back to the door.  
  
"Suit yourself, dude."  
  
The blue hedgehog left the room, quickly followed by the four others. One of them paused and looked back after only a few steps.  
  
Moments later, Sonic was leading his companions towards the cannon control room- and no one noticed that there was somebody missing.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location: Cannon Control Room  
  
The door was locked. Sonic smashed it down, and knew instantly that they were in the right place. There were the six Chaos Emeralds, suspended in a shaft of light that was so similar to the one on the Floating Island.  
  
The room was half submerged, Sonic noticed with annoyance. Water. Lovely…  
  
Then his eyes were drawn to the thing that was emitting that strange energy signal. It was between the four animals and the emeralds, and Robotnik was cowering at its feet. His walker lay ruined some distance away.  
  
"What's Godzilla doing here?" Sonic frowned, eyeing the huge orange bulk of the creature.  
  
At this point, the lizard-like beast noticed the new arrivals. The long, serpentine neck twisted around to face them, and it screamed. Forgetting about Robotnik, the monster thundered down the catwalk- moving slowly but inexorably and propelling itself with its short, thick forelegs. The back limbs were merely stumps, and the scaly body tapered into a muscular tail.  
  
"What the heck is that thing??" Tails exclaimed.  
  
"I've seen a picture in Gerald's notes, it must be the prototype," Rouge offered. "He described it as a 'biolizard.'"  
  
"More like an experiment gone wrong," Sonic added, observing the scarred, eyeless head. How it could see them, Sonic couldn't guess. There were gills on the creature's neck, but they probably didn't work very well, judging by the two cables that ran from its head to the machinery grafted to its back. Probably a life-support system of some kind. It was hard to believe that this grotesque thing could have anything to do with Shadow.  
  
But grotesque or not, the Biolizard looked like a tough customer. It wasn't going to let them get at the Chaos Emeralds without a fight- and fighting was the last thing Sonic wanted to do at the moment, what with the gash on his side that pulled painfully with every movement.  
  
This was turning out to be a really bad day…  
  
* * * *  
  
A few minutes earlier…  
  
Shadow stared unwaveringly at the planet below, barely noticing the other animals leave. Mobius was getting visibly closer now. The hedgehog's eyes never left the blue-green surface.  
  
He had no intention of trying to escape before ARK impacted; death no longer held any fear for him. Besides, where would he go if Mobius was devastated?  
  
Shadow still wanted to see the people on that world suffer, but a thought nagged at him: was wiping everyone out going too far? He was unsure, but had decided to let events run their course- he had served his purpose. Although Sonic had a small chance of stopping ARK's plunge, Shadow would not interfere.  
  
The black hedgehog became vaguely aware of a faint noise, and turned slightly. The pink girl, Amy Rose, was approaching.  
  
Amy re-entered the room, feeling a wave of pity. Now that she knew what had really happened, Shadow didn't seem threatening anymore- he was just a hedgehog like herself, and one in need of help. In slightly different circumstances, Amy realised, it could have been Sonic standing at that window.  
  
Amy also had a feeling that if they were going to save Mobius, they would need all the help they could get…  
  
"Shadow, why don't you come with us, we could use your help…" she began. Shadow glanced at her warily, then turned back to his vigil of space.  
  
"Why?" he asked quietly. "There's no way those people can be saved."  
  
Amy saw the double meaning of those words: How could they be saved from themselves?  
  
She shook her head firmly.  
  
"You can't judge an entire world on something that a few people did fifty years ago! We're not all like that, there are lots of good people down there." The pink hedgehog paused, grabbing Shadow's arm so that he was forced to look at her. "People like Maria."  
  
Shadow lowered his eyes, looking distraught.  
  
"I… don't know…"  
  
"Some people are selfish and evil," Amy continued gently, "But deep down, they're basically good. Why can't you give them a chance to be happy?"  
  
Shadow suddenly gasped and pulled away as another image slammed into his brain; for a second, Amy's face was replaced by Maria's- she spoke-  
  
…Give them the chance to be happy…  
  
Another flashback, triggered by Amy's words. As usual, he tried to force back the repressed memory…  
  
But this was the key to everything, and no one can run from the past forever.  
  
Shadow stopped fighting it. He closed his eyes, and for the first time let himself remember exactly what Maria had said at the end.  
  
* * * *  
  
…"Shadow, I beg of you…" Maria gasped, a hand pressed to the growing red stain on her side. "Do it for me. Do it for all the people on that planet…"  
  
Inside the capsule, Shadow's eyes seemed to go dead as he realised that from now on, he would be alone. Numbly, he nodded.  
  
"You must protect the people down there…" she continued. "Give them the chance to be happy… to fulfil their wishes…"  
  
Maria broke off and hissed in pain. Her legs started to collapse under her, so she leaned against the computer console for support. After a few seconds, she continued to talk urgently.  
  
"That is… that is why you were brought into this world."  
  
Shadow looked away, unable to watch.  
  
"Yes, I… I promise, Maria," he whispered. Maria smiled sadly through the pain.  
  
"Goodbye, Shadow the hedgehog…"  
  
Then she pushed a button on the keyboard; there was a slight whooshing noise, then nothing but the darkness of space and the blue planet far below…  
  
* * * *  
  
Shadow slowly raised his head and opened his eyes. Amy almost gasped; the change in those eyes was incredible. It was as if some mental wall had been demolished. The cold indifference was gone, replaced by a piercing sadness.  
  
Even more unexpectedly, a single tear rolled down the black hedgehog's cheek.  
  
Shadow carefully brushed it away with his hand, and wonderingly examined the tiny wet patch on the white glove.  
  
"How could I have forgotten…?" he whispered guiltily.  
  
"I must have said something right," Amy thought, amazed that she had finally got through to him. Shadow eventually looked up.  
  
"I have to keep my promise to Maria… and to you," he said, voice no longer emotionless. He extended a hand. "Come on…"  
  
"Huh?" Amy asked suspiciously.  
  
"I can't expect you to trust me, but we can get to the cannon control room much quicker this way."  
  
"Oh," nodded the pink hedgehog, understanding. She took his hand, and they disappeared in a green shimmer.  
  
* * * *  
  
Sonic and the others stood their ground as the huge lizard-creature approached down the catwalk, making the floor shudder with each heavy step.  
  
Sonic mentally assessed his condition: as well as the long cut on his side, he was exhausted. A prolonged battle was out of the question, as was moving at anywhere near his top speed. The Biolizard was slow but powerful, which gave it the advantage- but at least Sonic wouldn't be fighting alone. The hedgehog glanced quickly over his shoulder at the others. Knuckles could be counted on. So could Tails, if Sonic didn't have to bail him out of trouble. Rouge? He didn't know what she could do, or even if she was on their side- and Amy…  
  
Where was Amy, anyway?  
  
Sonic groaned. Not again.  
  
Fortunately, he didn't have to look far. A green flash and a pulse of Chaos energy between him and the Biolizard signalled her arrival, along with Shadow. Amy quickly moved to Sonic's side, and gasped at the approaching monster, while Shadow quickly assessed the situation.  
  
"I'll handle this. You deal with the Chaos Emeralds," he said calmly.  
  
"Wha-?" Sonic frowned. "How come you changed your mind?"  
  
Shadow glided away to meet the orange monster.  
  
"Amy helped me remember why I'm here," he called over his shoulder.  
  
"Nice one, Amy," grinned the blue hedgehog, eyebrows raised in surprise. Then he called to Tails, who flew over and lifted Sonic into the air. They drifted towards the control panel and the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles followed rather unsteadily with Amy clinging tightly to his dreadlocks; and after a few seconds of thought, Rouge unfurled her wings and joined them.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Location: Cannon Control Room  
  
Knuckles marvelled at how similar the mechanism looked to the Emerald Chamber, as he slipped the Master Emerald out of its bag. After placing the green gemstone in the shaft of light, he stood back and eyed the controls.  
  
"I'm gonna need a hand with this," he muttered. "I wish Porker was here."  
  
Sonic came over and looked at the computer screen, which still flashed an 'Access Denied' message.  
  
"Wouldn't it be easier to just remove the emeralds?" he asked. Knuckles shook his head.  
  
"If this place really works like the Floating Island, that wouldn't do any good."  
  
"Why not?" Amy asked, worried.  
  
"The Chaos Emeralds are powering the engines that are sending this place on a collision course with Mobius," explained the echidna. "If I remove the power source, the ARK will just keep falling. We have to get control of the emeralds somehow…"  
  
There was a scream from the Biolizard, and Sonic looked over his shoulder.  
  
"Let's hope Shadow can keep that thing busy long enough for us to do it," he muttered worriedly.  
  
* * * *  
  
Shadow jumped back to avoid a lunge from the Biolizard's crushing jaws. The brute's gaping maw snapped shut inches from where he had just been.  
  
So this was the prototype, the creature he had seen in the photograph. Yet another thing Dr. Gerald had kept from him. It was quite disturbing, thinking that he might be based on this grotesque beast- they probably even shared some of the same genetic structure.  
  
But that didn't matter anymore, so Shadow didn't dwell on it. The important thing was trying to put right the damage he had done, starting here. For the first time he was sure he was doing the right thing- Maria had asked him to help the people of Mobius, even after what they had done to her. Shadow didn't think he could forgive them as completely or as easily as she had… but maybe he could at least give them a chance.  
  
He had to keep his promise…  
  
Suddenly, the Biolizard lashed out with its thick tail- Shadow leaped over the swing and landed on the other side of the creature. Before it could turn to get at him again, the hedgehog had launched a spin attack at its flank. He impacted with a dull thud, but the hard, scaly hide was impervious to attack; Shadow's spines made no mark on the Biolizard's rough skin.  
  
Standing back, he considered what to do next. The creature's armour seemed impenetrable…  
  
The neck swung around again. This time, Shadow grabbed onto one of the cables that flowed from the Biolizard's empty eye sockets. Although he was lifted into the air, he refused to let go; even when the creature shook its head violently to dislodge him.  
  
There had to be a weak spot. Dr. Gerald must have abandoned this design for some reason… the Biolizard was nowhere near as fast as its replacement, but what did that matter when it was practically invulnerable?  
  
Then it occurred to him that he might be holding the answer in his hand- wasn't the wiring part of some sort of life support…?  
  
Bracing himself against the writhing neck, Shadow pulled at the cable with all his strength. The Biolizard snarled in irritation and lifted a paw to bat him aside, but the hedgehog kicked out at the neck, using it as a springboard to swing out of the way.  
  
The delicate wiring was not meant to take any kind of weight. There was a sudden tearing noise as the cable ripped free from the machinery on the creature's back. It screamed in pain and outrage, tossing its head from side to side, the loose cable cracking like a whip.  
  
Shadow lost his grip and was hurled through the air. Managing to right himself, he turned an uncontrolled plunge into the water into a respectable dive, landing some distance away. Fortunately, he could swim quite well for a hedgehog- and moments later, he burst out of the water and landed safely back on the catwalk.  
  
The black hedgehog shook the water off himself and glanced at the Biolizard. It looked like he had been right about the cable- now that the life support machinery was damaged, the creature looked like it was having trouble breathing. It was crouched down, sides heaving and gills fluttering.  
  
Shadow's eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. Something was wrong here- the prototype's energy level was rising…  
  
Was it really hurt, or just gathering its strength for something?  
  
He had his answer within a second. The Biolizard's neck arched back…  
  
"What…"  
  
In an incredibly quick movement for something its size, the head lashed out, the jaws opened and it spat a globe of purple-black energy at point blank range…  
  
Taken by surprise, there was no chance for Shadow to duck out of the way. It was pure instinct alone that saved him. His eyes fixed on a point somewhere above and behind the Biolizard, and he warped out…  
  
--reappearing moments later in mid-air further down the catwalk. He had managed to avoid the full force of the blast, and although he was singed and had had the breath knocked out of him, he was otherwise unharmed. Shadow landed heavily, just in time to see the beast launch another two Chaos blasts in his direction. This time, however, he was ready- he rolled under the first energy globe, and it passed harmlessly over his head. He jumped the second.  
  
Meanwhile…  
  
Sonic glanced quickly at the ongoing battle. At least Shadow seemed to be holding his own. The problem was, so was the Biolizard…  
  
The others were engaged in a battle of their own- a fight to stop the ARK's suicide plunge. Tails and Rouge worked feverishly to crack the code and unlock the controls, while Knuckles stood on the edge of the emerald shaft, the Grey Emerald held tightly in his hands. A beam of energy flowed from it into the Master Emerald, where it refracted into five rays of light which pierced the other emeralds.  
  
Silhouetted in the multi-coloured glare, the echidna looked back over his shoulder.  
  
"Sonic, is this any better?"  
  
The hedgehog turned back to the Chaos Emeralds, shaking his head.  
  
"No… there's no change in the energy level." The display on one of the screens changed. Tails looked up triumphantly from the keyboard.  
  
"I got the status monitor working. We should at least know what's going on now…" The fox's expression then turned to one of dismay as his blue eyes scanned the readouts. "Uh oh," he began ominously. "The ARK is still falling. Another few minutes and it'll be caught in Mobius' gravity… then there will be no stopping it."  
  
"Damn!" Scowling, Knuckles went back to his work.  
  
"Time to finish this," Shadow growled, revving up into a spin attack. Now that he had found a possible weak point, he was going to take advantage of it.  
  
Besides, the Biolizard had revealed the extent of its Chaotic powers, and the hedgehog suspected that things were going to get nasty…  
  
Shadow aimed unerringly for the device on the prototype's back. Fortunately, the delicate contraption was neither shielded or attack proof- There was a crunch as the metal was sheared away by the spinning hedgehog, and liquid began to spout from the ruptured pipes.  
  
Shadow landed and shook his head, dislodging the wires that had become entangled in his quills. The Biolizard gave an agonised shriek, rearing up into the air and exposing its smooth grey underbelly in the process.  
  
Seizing his chance, the black hedgehog launched another spin attack. The belly of the creature was not as well armoured as the rest, and the impact caused it to topple over backwards like a demolished building.  
  
The orange bulk hit the metal floor with a loud thud, and didn't move. Half in, half out of the water, the prototype resembled some strange sea monster washed up on a distant beach. Shadow pushed at its foreleg with a foot.  
  
There was no response. Was it dead? No… there was still energy in the creature, and Shadow thought he could make out a slight flutter of its gills.  
  
Not dead, but certainly defeated.  
  
Not so long ago, Shadow would have been pleased at this, taking his victory as proof that he was the true Ultimate Life Form- rather than this ungainly creature. Now he found that he didn't care much, as he had more important things to do.  
  
Turning his back on the motionless Biolizard, he ran off towards the Chaos Emeralds.  
  
* * * *  
  
Knuckles held on grimly to the Control Emerald. No matter how he manipulated the energy from the Chaos Emeralds, he couldn't reverse ARK's course; it seemed that Dr. Gerald had thought of everything. Despairing, he struggled to think of something new to try.  
  
At that moment, Shadow arrived at the control panel and quickly took in the situation.  
  
"The ARK is draining energy from the emeralds," he observed. "If the Chaos Emeralds started to absorb energy instead of emitting it…"  
  
"Then they'd cancel each other out!" Sonic finished. "Good thinking, Shadow!" the blue hedgehog grinned and turned to the echidna. "Do it, Knuckles!"  
  
Knuckles nodded. It was so obvious! All he had to do was reverse the polarity, and…  
  
…Slowly, the glow from the Chaos Emeralds dimmed, and the vibration in the floor died away.  
  
There was an expectant silence.  
  
"Tails…?" Amy eventually breathed.  
  
The young fox looked at the readout on the status monitor. Then he spoke, his grin getting bigger with each word.  
  
"We've stopped… and ARK is settling into a new orbit." He looked up triumphantly. "Guys, we did it!"  
  
The room exploded into a chorus of cheers and yells. Even Knuckles joined in, after placing the Grey Emerald back in the shaft of light.  
  
Shadow stood apart from the others, quietly observing. The bemused look on his face said that he didn't know how to deal with situations like this. However, watching the others, he felt something inside him change- perhaps for better. For the first time he felt no hate towards Sonic and his friends; maybe Amy had been right, and at least some people from Mobius were good.  
  
"Hey, Stripes."  
  
Shadow looked around, to see Sonic. He nodded in acknowledgement.  
  
"Thanks for your help back there," Sonic said hesitantly. "I guess I should have listened to Shade in the first place. You're all right…"  
  
Shadow sighed and looked over towards the other four figures in the room, who were happily talking, relieved to have come to the end of another adventure.  
  
"I was wrong," he admitted thoughtfully. "and I…regret that now."  
  
"Everyone has a dark side." Sonic grinned ruefully. "Even me."  
  
Shadow looked uncomfortable, and changed the subject.  
  
"It looks like Robotnik got away. I don't see him anywhere."  
  
"Nothing new there." Sonic glanced around the room, and also failed to see any sign of the fat professor. "Looks like I'm gonna have to track him down again." He paused, considering. "Y'know… we could really use someone like you on the team. What do you say?"  
  
Sonic extended a hand for Shadow to shake. The black hedgehog thought about it- he was a loner. But perhaps he had been alone for long enough…  
  
Shadow shrugged and nodded, accepting. The two former adversaries were about to shake hands, when…  
  
"What the heck?!" Sonic exclaimed, whipping around. The still form of the Biolizard heaved, its energy level rocketing. The creature reared back, forepaws clutching at the air, and emitted a horrific shriek- then an aura of black and purple energy surrounded it…  
  
There was a brilliant white flash, and a sound like thunder. When the light returned to normal, the prototype was gone…  
  
Everyone looked at each other confusedly.  
  
"Was that Chaos Control?!" said Sonic, after a moment of shocked silence. Shadow nodded grimly.  
  
"That's what it looked like. I didn't count on this…"  
  
Rouge frowned, shaking her head.  
  
"The question is… where did that brute go to?"  
  
And as if in answer, the floor began to shudder…  
  
Tails quickly checked the single working computer screen.  
  
"Uh oh." He looked up, eyes wide. "Guys, we're moving again."  
  
Knuckles rushed over and peered at the monitor, frowning.  
  
"How is that possible?" he gasped. "What's that creature doing?" Tails shook his head in bewilderment at the strange readings that crowded the screen. They were bizarre…  
  
"This is weird…it says the Biolizard is outside, and has somehow become one with ARK…" he shook his head; "The creature is using its energy to propel the colony towards Mobius."  
  
Shadow glanced at the readings, equally puzzled.  
  
"I didn't think it had that kind of intelligence. But it seems determined to carry out Dr. Gerald's plan…"  
  
Sonic looked grim.  
  
"We have to stop it somehow." He looked at the twin-tailed fox, and asked a question- even though he dreaded the answer. "How long until ARK is caught in Mobius' gravity?"  
  
"T…ten minutes," Tails replied, shivering.  
  
Sonic's mind raced. Ten minutes remained until ARK reached the point of no return. In that short space of time, they had to think of a plan and carry it out…  
  
No matter how he thought about it, this did not look good.  
  
To be concluded…  
  
Next: desperate times call for desperate measures- prepare for the ultimate battle!  
  
Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, part 11: "Wishes Are Forever"  
  
(Author's note- I've already done a comic strip version of part 11, which is at http://www.crosswinds.net/~stc2/ , but I'm working on the text version… it's nearly finished… honest…) 


	11. Wishes Are Forever

Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation- part 11.  
  
"Wishes are Forever"  
  
By Thalia 'RockChick' Evans.  
  
  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Location: Cannon Control Room, ARK  
  
Clustered around the shaft of light which held the Chaos Emeralds were six animals. They were the only ones who had a chance of saving the future of Mobius, and had only ten minutes to pull it off. One of the six had suggested a plan- a drastic one, perhaps, but with some chance of success.  
  
However, Sonic the hedgehog would have none of it.  
  
"I ain't doing it. No way, not this hedgehog." he stormed, shaking his head furiously. Tails gave him a pleading stare.  
  
"But, Sonic…If we don't stop ARK in the next ten minutes, Planet Mobius is finished!"  
  
That much was true. The space colony ARK was hurtling towards the planet, guided by the prototype creature known as the Biolizard. Within ten minutes, the artificial satellite would become irrevocably caught in Mobius' gravity, making impact a certainty.  
  
Shadow gave Sonic a puzzled stare, not comprehending why he was so reluctant. It was obvious to both hedgehogs that the prototype's power had increased dramatically; and the one thing that could defeat such a creature of Chaos was another.  
  
"The only way to stop that creature outside is to transform using the Chaos Emeralds," he reminded his blue counterpart.  
  
Sonic furiously whipped around to face him.  
  
"And run the risk of destroying everything?!" the blue hedgehog snapped. "I could become worse than Super Sonic was."  
  
Shadow's frown became deeper.  
  
"Super Sonic?"  
  
Sonic looked down, reluctant to talk about it- yet now realising that Shadow had no idea of what he had been through.  
  
"I…I used to transform into this uncontrollable demon, whenever I got exposed to Chaos energy," he explained painfully.  
  
The black hedgehog nodded in sudden understanding. He had realised some time ago that Sonic's powers were somewhat unstable compared to his own- and too much Chaos energy undoubtedly had the effect of magnifying negative emotions such as hate and anger. Even though Shadow had been designed to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds, he didn't know if he would be able to avoid this effect if he ever transformed into his ultimate form.  
  
"Dr. Gerald suspected something like that might happen." he began. Towards the end, not long before the military had invaded ARK, the scientist had started working on a way to solve the problem. "That's why he invented this…"  
  
Shadow held up his left arm, displaying the bracelet on his wrist. "The control ring." He unfastened the metal band and handed it to Sonic, who scrutinised it carefully. Apart from some circuitry on the inside, the ring looked like nothing more than an item of jewellery- frowning, Sonic looked up.  
  
"Wait a second. You're saying that this thing will stop me from going crazy?" He turned the ring over in his hand, noting the black and yellow colouring and the red cloth flap- identical to one Shadow wore on his right arm. "How do I know it'll work?"  
  
The dark hedgehog finished rearranging his glove, and met Sonic's gaze with an even stare.  
  
"Dr. Gerald's creations don't go wrong often," he said, a little proudly. Sonic winced slightly- had he taken that as an insult? -as the other hedgehog cautioned him that "The ring is only designed to be used once."  
  
Sonic nodded thoughtfully, thinking it over. He didn't want to do this… it wasn't just the destruction he might cause that bothered him, he realised, but also the loss of his new- found freedom. Ever since the incident on the Timeship Infinity, he hadn't needed to fear becoming Super Sonic. He hadn't had to live under the constant threat of destroying everything that mattered to him… even though Porker had warned him that since he was still powered by Chaos energy, he might still undergo some kind of transformation.  
  
He had hoped to avoid it. Now it seemed he would have to volunteer…  
  
But then there were the people of Mobius to consider. Shadow was right; the Biolizard had power that rivalled Perfect Chaos'. There was no other way to stop it… and Sonic couldn't just abandon his world to that fate, even if it meant facing one of his worst nightmares.  
  
Sonic looked up, his decision made. Face grim, he shouted to the others:  
  
"Everyone, get out of here… just in case."  
  
As Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Rouge made a hasty exit, Sonic fastened the control ring onto his left arm. He nodded to Shadow.  
  
"Let's get this over with."  
  
Two hedgehogs, once adversaries but now united by a common goal, turned towards the seven Chaos Emeralds. Both tapped into inner reserves of power, and the emeralds began to glow in response… until two beams of iridescent green Chaos energy lanced out from the Master Emerald.  
  
The first hit Shadow squarely in the chest. He simply closed his eyes and calmly allowed the energy to flow through him, feeling his body change. As always, he was totally in control.  
  
Shadow eventually opened his eyes -which were still crimson-, and experimentally flexed a hand to gauge how much his strength had increased. He noticed that his fur was now the colour of polished chrome, throwing off dull reflections of the surroundings- except for the red streaks that still remained. He sensed that his Chaos Control ability was more advanced- Chaotic space was now his to command, as long as he had enough energy.  
  
Although he couldn't have known it, Shadow was now more powerful than Super Sonic. He felt awed- finally, he had achieved his true power. He wondered briefly if this was what Dr. Gerald had meant by 'The Ultimate Life form.'  
  
While Shadow's transformation was under his control, Sonic's was just the opposite. The Chaos beam engulfed him. For a moment the feeling was almost a relief- he felt the wound on his side heal, and his fatigue vanished, to be replaced by a sensation of incredible energy.  
  
But then the transformation began for real--  
  
The hedgehog staggered back, every cell resonating with pain as he was wrenched into a different form. Sonic couldn't suppress a strangled cry as every moment of rage and hate he had ever experienced washed over him- he realised that the control ring wasn't working, then all coherent thought was lost in the sudden, overwhelming need to destroy.  
  
Mercifully, the ring quickly tuned itself to Sonic's brain patterns, and the rage and pain gradually faded to an intense throb of power throughout his entire body. The hedgehog shook his head as his thoughts cleared, feeling overwhelmed.  
  
…so much power…  
  
Although any memories he had of Super Sonic were hazy, he knew that this was something different- it was more like… Hyper Sonic.  
  
His eyes had been emerald green, but now they were a fierce, searing yellow, and the pupils were white. Moving his head, Sonic felt that the balance had changed- meaning the shape of his spines had altered. They now projected straight out behind him, like blades, and were of no one colour- instead being like a constantly shifting rainbow.  
  
The two hedgehogs were too preoccupied with what was happening to them to notice warning signs begin to appear on the computer screens. Among them were 'Warning: Chaos Energy Overload' and 'Emergency Eject Procedure Initiated'…  
  
The seven Chaos Emeralds were sucked down the emerald shaft, and moments later seven points of light arced out into space…  
  
Meanwhile, somewhere on Mobius…  
  
The golden-brown hedgehog known as Shade stared up into the night sky, puzzled.  
  
Through his tinted shades- which he even wore at night- the stars and shattered moon had a bluish glow. A brighter point of light- more of a shining disc, really- stood out like a glowing beacon; ARK was at the very limits of his Chaos-sense, yet he could still detect the energy from the space colony.  
  
"Strange," he said, partly to himself and partly to his Chao, Sparky. "I sense three huge energy signatures…" He paused, head tilted to one side; as if listening for something only he could hear. Concentrating, he could just about pick out the seven emeralds, which weren't where they were supposed to be. "And now the Chaos Emeralds have left ARK."  
  
But it was the three big powers that bothered him. One he did not recognise. The second matched energy he had sensed from Shadow, and the third…  
  
The third was unnerving. It was the first one he had detected, and made something stir in the back of his mind- something he had thought was long dead.  
  
That energy had to belong to Sonic.  
  
"What the heck is going on up there?" he murmured, dreading the answer.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Location: Outside ARK  
  
For a moment, two brilliant green flashes lit the blackness of space.  
  
Emerging from Chaotic Space, Shadow glanced quickly at the fast-approaching sphere of Planet Mobius.  
  
"We have to act quickly, Sonic…" the silver hedgehog cautioned. "There isn't much time."  
  
Sonic followed his gaze, nodding as he realised how disturbingly close the space colony was getting to his world.  
  
"Yeah- we have to stop ARK getting caught in Mobius' gravity." He realised then that he shouldn't be able to hear his own voice in space, and took a breath of air-- lucky for him that ARK had it's own atmosphere. In his Hyper Sonic form, surviving without oxygen would have been easy… but it would have consumed a lot of energy, energy he knew he was going to need.  
  
His heart was pounding faster than it had any right to, and Sonic felt like he was burning up… his body wouldn't be able to sustain this kind of power for very long, and he grimaced at the thought of what damage it might be doing to him.  
  
And he had no idea what Shadow was capable of. Their energy levels were roughly equal, but who could tell how each hedgehog would handle that energy?  
  
The two of them skimmed the surface of ARK; moving effortlessly in the low- gravity environment. It was odd how quickly they got used to their new forms- almost as if some chaotic instinct was guiding them.  
  
"There it is," Shadow murmured, as they approached the Eclipse Cannon's tower. "The Biolizard."  
  
When Tails had said the creature had become one with ARK, he hadn't been kidding. The sections of the tower had closed over the huge orange and grey reptile, so that only the front half of its body projected into space. Myriad wires had snaked out of the Cannon and impaled the prototype's flanks… or perhaps the cables had originated from inside the beast- it was impossible to tell. One cable still arced from the Biolizard's head to the damaged machinery along its spine; the other floated free, globules of green liquid flowing from the severed end and freezing in the cold of the thin atmosphere.  
  
The thing turned its blind face towards the approaching energy signatures, and screamed deafeningly.  
  
"…And he's not very pleased to see us," Sonic pointed out.  
  
Green sparks flickered around the monster's jaws, then it arched its neck and vomited a beam of pure, deadly emerald energy in the direction of the two hedgehogs.  
  
Sonic swerved to avoid the deadly beam, and Shadow twisted out of the way. Before the creature could fire another shot, the silver and red hedgehog launched into a flying spin attack- impacting with a dull thud on its exposed belly.  
  
"Take that, you ugly prototype!" he yelled on the rebound, coming to a standstill beside Sonic.  
  
The Biolizard snarled. The eyeless skull seemed to glare at the duo, jaws slightly parted in what seemed like a grin.  
  
"Not a scratch… tough little thing, isn't it?" Sonic shook his head, slightly dismayed. The creature's strength had increased more than he had realised…  
  
"How did it become so powerful?" Exclaimed Shadow, a hint of disbelief in his usually calm voice. That attack should have worked! He had beaten the prototype before- how could he fail this time, now that the power of the Chaos Emeralds was flowing through him…?  
  
Sonic looked thoughtful.  
  
"I dunno… maybe it's drawing its energy from ARK." The rainbow hedgehog shrugged; and his vivid yellow eyes suddenly flashed wickedly. "Guess you can choose your friends but not your family, huh Shadow?"  
  
Shadow's red eyes glowed with fury.  
  
"That… that thing is not--" he started to snap. Sonic raised his hands in a calming gesture, before shooting off to take his own shot at the Biolizard.  
  
"Chill, Stripes. I was just kidding!" he called. Sheesh, Sonic thought, couldn't he take a joke? Shadow was obviously still really touchy about that ultimate life form business, but Sonic was willing to bet there was a sense of humour hidden in there somewhere.  
  
"How can you joke at a time like this?!" exclaimed the exasperated chrome hedgehog, following Sonic as he rocketed towards his target.  
  
"You need a sense of humour in this line of work--" Sonic's foot lashed out at the Biolizard's chin. The head snapped back, jaws slamming together on the thick yellowish tongue with a satisfying crunch.  
  
"--I guess it helps stop things from getting me down!" Sonic grinned over his shoulder. That was true; and it worked- most of the time. Like now, for instance.  
  
But Sonic didn't see the swipe coming--  
  
The paw of the Biolizard swung around, knocking the hedgehog aside. Dazed, he allowed momentum to carry him out of the creature's striking range.  
  
"Ow," Sonic muttered, righting himself. He could still feel pain, just as intensely as in his normal, blue form- but as Hyper Sonic it faded more quickly, because his body healed much faster than usual. An ordinary hedgehog would have been killed by the powerful blow. As it was, Sonic suffered several cracked ribs which immediately started to repair themselves… feeling the energy drain as his body regenerated, he warned himself that he wouldn't last long if he suffered a few more hits like that. He would have to be more careful.  
  
Coming to a stop beside him, Shadow raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Not bad, Sonic."  
  
Recovering, Sonic grinned.  
  
"Is that sarcasm I hear? You're learning!" Amber eyes narrowed, amused.  
  
Shadow regarded him with an 'as-if' expression.  
  
"Actually, I was serious…" he began, although not completely sure that was entirely true. "Look!"  
  
He pointed towards the Biolizard, which emitted an agonised groan and shook its head groggily.  
  
"All right!" beamed Sonic, feeling more confident now that his attack had had an effect. "Looks like he could use some asprin. Now's our chance to give him more than just a headache!"  
  
He always seemed to have a witty one-liner at the ready. Shadow shook his head in bewilderment; Perhaps it was all an act, a way to cope with the dire circumstances- but how did Sonic manage to be so… so upbeat all the time?!  
  
For a moment, Shadow wished he could still laugh and joke that easily…  
  
But he could fight, and that was what was really necessary.  
  
Sonic drifted a little closer to the prototype, and paused for an instant to gather his strength. Glancing to his left, he observed Shadow give a barely perceptible nod; it was time for a synchronised attack.  
  
Twin bolts of searing greenish-white energy lanced out from the rainbow hedgehog's eyes, while Shadow simultaneously launched a powered-up version of one of his normal attacks…  
  
"Chaos Spear!!"  
  
The beams hit the Biolizard at the same moment. For a fraction of a second it was illuminated from within; the thing screamed in pain and rage before whipping its neck around in a snakelike movement, getting the two hedgehogs into its line of fire.  
  
The jaws snapped; a huge flaming shaft of energy emerged, too close and too big for either one of them to avoid completely. There was a crushing impact, both experienced an instant of burning pain…  
  
For a second, everything went black…  
  
* * * *  
  
Shadow opened his eyes, saw stars- real and otherwise- then blinked hard to clear the fog from his brain. He could feel his body struggling to regenerate, and realised he had been lucky…if the Biolizard's wide-range attack hadn't been weaker than the focused beam it had used earlier…  
  
Just behind him, Sonic groaned.  
  
"Uhhn… that guy packs a punch." He held a hand to his head.  
  
"Are… are you all right?" The silver hedgehog asked, rather unsteadily, as he sensed Sonic's energy level start to waver.  
  
"Not sure…" Sonic's yellow eyes looked worried. Like Shadow, he was using a lot of energy to repair his injuries, and it was starting to take its' toll. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."  
  
There was no time to rest, however, as a green glow appeared once again in the creature's cavernous mouth. The head shifted, aiming itself at Sonic.  
  
Shadow barely had time to act as the Biolizard fired a narrow, intense beam of green power. An image flashed before his eyes for an instant: The flare of a laser pistol, the scream of agony-- Maria?! But it was him they had wanted, not her…  
  
"MOVE!!"  
  
Couldn't warp out. No time. Shadow swung his arm, connecting with Sonic's chest and propelling him backwards and out of the way-- THUD--, as the silver hedgehog got between him and the deadly beam…  
  
"YAAARGH!!"  
  
The ray impacted just below the patch of pale fur on his chest, and Shadow thought he would pass out from the agony… but he stubbornly clung to consciousness.  
  
The beam stopped; the hedgehog realised that, by some miracle, he was still alive. Just.  
  
He hurt too much to be dead.  
  
"Thanks, pal…" Sonic breathed, realising that Shadow had probably just saved him again. The other hedgehog didn't seem to hear; he was too busy gasping for air. Wisps of smoke drifted between his fingers where his hand pressed against the wound. "You okay?" Sonic added.  
  
Shadow forced his ruby eyes open about half way.  
  
"I'm… fine…" he said through gritted teeth, even though he obviously wasn't. He was starting to heal, part of him willed his body to regenerate faster so the pain would stop; while another part bemoaned the fact that this would leave him desperately short of power.  
  
Sonic looked over at the menacing Biolizard for a moment, then back towards the hedgehog that he was starting to think of as a friend.  
  
"You'd better rest for a while. I'll take over," Sonic advised; Shadow had taken the full force of the beam, and his energy level was falling fast. He had to buy him enough time to recover...  
  
In another situation, Shadow would have carried on fighting so as not to seem weak. Now, however, he could only nod gratefully, and watch Sonic speed off towards the prototype.  
  
* * * *  
  
The rainbow- coloured hedgehog evaded a lunge from the jaws of the monster, as he looked for an opening to attack. The maw slammed shut inches from his last position.  
  
He realised it was getting more difficult to stay one step ahead of the creature. It wasn't just Shadow who was in trouble, because Sonic was losing power, slowing down…. and not only that.  
  
You might think it was impossible to feel incredibly powerful yet exhausted at the same time- but Sonic did. He had gradually become aware of a burning pain throughout his entire body; the kind of feeling he got when he had pushed himself to the limit, or had run too fast for too long. As he had first suspected, he couldn't maintain his Hyper form for long. He was running out of time, and simply wearing out.  
  
He needed -wanted- to change back into his normal form, and rest- that was what Sonic's body was telling him, and it was tempting. But he couldn't. Not yet… he had to hold on…  
  
The skull of the Biolizard suddenly loomed up behind him!  
  
"Yikes!"  
  
The jaws were wide, ready to bite; but suddenly the bulky head snapped to one side as something hit it from below--  
  
"Back off, creep!"  
  
The Biolizard shook its head and glared at the source of its irritation: Shadow, who uncurled from his spin attack and hovered next to Sonic.  
  
Sonic glanced at the silver hedgehog, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Stripes, you are starting to make me look bad!" The hedgehog then noticed something about the orange and grey lizard that tweaked his face into a grin. "Hey! See that wound on its belly?"  
  
Shadow looked, and he too noticed the large purplish-red swelling marring the grey scales. Whether it was caused by one of their earlier attacks, or something else, there was no way to tell. But it was still an opportunity…  
  
"Yes…" he replied. "Maybe we've found a weak spot."  
  
Sonic nodded and assessed his condition. His energy was still diminishing, but he had enough left for a last attack. Shadow's power level was somewhat lower than Sonic's, because of the beating he had taken earlier.  
  
"This could be our last chance," Sonic began, pointing towards the prototype. "So let's hit this overgrown newt with all we've got!"  
  
The two hedgehogs rocketed towards the beast, aiming unerringly for the inflamed area on its underside. They both knew that they had to put everything into one final attack- a last, desperate attempt to defeat the creature. The fate of the world depended on it.  
  
Sonic accelerated, his rainbow aura becoming a blinding veil of light as he forced himself to go faster. Time seemed to slow to a crawl; although he was moving at close to lightspeed, it seemed like an eternity.  
  
Beside him, Shadow kept pace. He was also surrounded by a blaze of energy, the colour of flame and glowing with the same intensity. As he tried to extract every last spark of energy from already depleted reserves, a single thought played in his mind:  
  
"This is for you, Maria…"  
  
Impact.  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Location: Outside ARK  
  
The Biolizard emitted a choked cry as it was hit with incredible force. The scream merged with the shrieks of tearing metal and the ripping sounds as cables were torn from its sides.  
  
A whole section of the Eclipse Cannon's huge tower broke away, tumbling through space- and the creature was suddenly in free-fall, detached from ARK and turning end over end as it began the slow plunge to Mobius.  
  
From somewhere high above ARK, Sonic watched as the dying creature drifted away.  
  
"I… I think we did it," he panted.  
  
"He's finished," agreed Shadow, sounding exhausted yet immensely relieved.  
  
"And not a moment too soon," Sonic replied. "I feel totally burned out."  
  
The hedgehog sighed, allowing himself to relax for a moment… and almost immediately, his eyes flickered from amber to green; and the flashing colours of his fur hesitated in the blue- purple range. He shook his head hard, fighting it; he couldn't afford to change back now, not out here- even though he was wracked with pain from the effort of maintaining his Hyper form. It would be such a relief to get back on board ARK...  
  
Shadow was probably thinking exactly the same thing, judging by his appearance. His chrome body had lost some of its reflective shine, and the tips of his quills had darkened almost to their original black.  
  
Thank goodness Mobius and the people on board ARK were now safe.  
  
But something wasn't right…  
  
The red eyes shifted from their observation of the Biolizard to gaze at the planet itself.  
  
It was so close… he hadn't noticed how close during the battle. It filled his whole field of vision. The hedgehog glanced at ARK, which was moving slowly but inexorably… the metal had a reddish glow here and there…  
  
Atmospheric friction. Had the space colony already entered the atmosphere?  
  
How long had they been fighting?  
  
"Sonic… look…"  
  
"Uh…?"  
  
Sonic followed the other hedgehog's gaze; blinking hard, his eyes grudgingly altered from green to an unstable yellow. Then he saw what Shadow had seen, and he gasped.  
  
"Oh no… we…we're too late. ARK is still falling towards Mobius!"  
  
"We can't have gone through all that for nothing!" Shadow growled. "There must be a way to stop this."  
  
Sonic frowned determinedly. He wasn't going to give up just yet!  
  
"If only we could somehow… move ARK back into orbit…"  
  
His eyes widened. Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, a sudden idea dawning; simultaneously, they exclaimed:  
  
"Chaos Control!!"  
  
Yes! It could work! When someone used Chaos Control, they could take with them anything they were physically touching- but the bigger the object, the more energy was needed to move it.  
  
Energy… that was the problem.  
  
"This is going to take a lot of power," Shadow cautioned, as the two hedgehogs sped towards the space colony. Their determination had given them new strength, or so it appeared- but they were really running on little more than willpower. Sonic had to concentrate simply to stay in his Hyper form; and although Shadow was trying not to show it, it was obvious from his energy level that he was even worse off.  
  
"Leave it to me," Sonic advised him as they reached ARK's surface. "You should get out of here."  
  
Shadow maintained his position at Sonic's side, shaking his head vehemently.  
  
"Not a chance!"  
  
Sonic shot him a glare, placing his hand on the metal surface of the colony. What the hell did Shadow think he was doing?!  
  
"Don't be stupid, Shadow!" the hedgehog snapped. "You barely have enough energy to get yourself to safety, let alone ARK!"  
  
"And you have?! Face it, neither of us can move ARK by ourselves. But if I help you, you might have enough power left to escape…"  
  
Sonic's eyes went wide.  
  
"But… what about you?" he gasped. Shadow had so little energy left… he wouldn't have a chance.  
  
Shadow lowered his eyes, and they were filled with guilt and sadness.  
  
"Don't worry about me," he said softly. "All this time, you've been doing the job I was designed for… while I tried to destroy the world I promised to protect." He looked up at Sonic, seeing him as an equal… no, more than that. Shadow was made to be perfect, while Sonic had not… yet Shadow was the one who had failed. He thought that if there really was such a thing as the Ultimate Life Form, then it was right in front of him.  
  
"If one of us is going to survive, it should be you," the hedgehog concluded. "Besides- you know this is the only way."  
  
Sonic sighed. He was right… there was no way he could move ARK by himself. Mobius' only chance was that Shadow helped him do it.  
  
He didn't like the idea, not one little bit. But…  
  
"Yeah, I guess it is…" Sonic admitted grudgingly.  
  
Shadow nodded silently; and even he was a little surprised as a smile softened his usually severe expression.  
  
Sonic was the only one who had seen him smile since the incident on ARK fifty years before…  
  
"Then there's only one thing left to do," the red-striped hedgehog said, placing a hand on ARK's surface. "--Save the world!"  
  
The pair concentrated, each straining to find the energy they needed, drawing on power they weren't sure they had. A sizzling green curtain of Chaos energy fell over the hemispherical satellite, and sensing the right moment, their gazes locked…  
  
"CHAOS CONTROL!"  
  
A brilliant explosion of green light eclipsed the stars. On Mobius, children pointed at the sky- "Mummy, see the fireworks!" - and above, space was once more cold and empty.  
  
* * * *  
  
On board ARK…  
  
"Wh… what just happened?" Amy Rose, who had returned to the control room along with Tails, Knuckles and Rouge, shook her head in bewilderment.  
  
"I don't know…" Tails replied, equally confused. There had been this blinding flash of light… and the violent shaking of the floor had suddenly died away. The young fox glanced at the status monitor; then his eyes widened.  
  
"Somehow, ARK is back in its original orbit!"  
  
Everyone followed suit, gazing at what the monitor showed. They saw the calm blue sphere of Planet Mobius; serene as ever and thankfully distant.  
  
Amy felt a pang of worry-- where were Sonic and Shadow…?  
  
She turned, sensing something behind her… and for a moment she thought she saw a tiny spark of green light in mid-air, which faded to nothing. Had it been her imagination? No-- there it was again, flickering weakly. Someone was trying to return, but it didn't seem like they were going to make it…  
  
The light brightened, however, then imploded. A figure appeared and hit the floor with a dull thump; then lay there on its back, not moving.  
  
"Sonic!!" Amy cried…  
  
* * * *  
  
The blue hedgehog was barely conscious. He felt himself start to shiver uncontrollably as his body went into shock… Power had come with a heavy price, and on top of that he had given everything he had in order to move ARK. Sonic had never felt so utterly exhausted in his life.  
  
It hurt to move- even to breathe, and he felt like his heart was trying to hammer its' way out of his chest.  
  
Sleep… he had to sleep…  
  
The cold floor under him seemed to fade away… it was almost like floating in space; and he might have been, for all he cared. Sonic wasn't even sure he had made it back to ARK. It didn't matter that much anymore, because all he wanted to do was rest… unconsciousness beckoned, like an oasis in the desert…  
  
As everything began to slip away, the hedgehog heard someone calling him from a great distance…  
  
"Sonic!!"  
  
Amy…?  
  
Her voice moved him to try to stay awake a little longer, and he struggled to open his eyes- blackness encroached on his blurred vision, but he saw the pink hedgehog rushing to his side.  
  
"Did… did it work?" Sonic whispered as he tried to sit up.  
  
Amy knelt beside him, supporting the weakened hedgehog's head.  
  
"Yes, we're safe… but are you all right?" She asked, concerned. Sonic's green eyes had lost much of their chaotic glow; Amy realised he must be completely drained of energy.  
  
"Where's Shadow?" Rouge asked fearfully, stepping forward.  
  
Unable to meet her gaze, Sonic looked down. His eyes fell on the bracelet he still wore on his left wrist, and he slowly shook his head.  
  
There was a dejected hush as the truth dawned on the five animals: Shadow was gone.  
  
Sonic let out a low moan, then he knew no more as a welcoming darkness enveloped him…  
  
* * * *  
  
"…It's finally over…" Shadow thought, as the last traces of silver faded from his quills. With his rapidly dimming vision he could see ARK in the distance. Then he looked down; and as Mobius' gravity began to pull him in, he realised the planet had never looked so beautiful…  
  
The black hedgehog knew he was about to die…either from the energy drain, lack of oxygen or simply burning up in the atmosphere.  
  
But he didn't care anymore, because his demise no longer mattered. Mobius was out of danger; so his purpose was fulfilled.  
  
"I kept my promise, Maria…" Shadow was suddenly filled with a strange, new emotion… a feeling of completeness that he had never experienced before. Again, his face involuntarily formed a smile. An unfamiliar feeling; could he actually be… happy?  
  
He tried to enjoy it in the few moments he had left.  
  
Then the doubts came… was he truly ready to embrace death? Maria had asked him to protect the planet, and he had…  
  
This was what she wanted.  
  
Wasn't it?  
  
Was there anything more he could do?  
  
But even if there was, it was too late now. Far too late.  
  
The hedgehog continued to fall towards Mobius, dwindling with distance…  
  
Moments later, somewhere in the blue planet's upper atmosphere, a bright flash of light lit the sky. Then there was nothing, nothing at all.  
  
* * * *  
  
Epilogue  
  
Later that night, back at the Emerald Hill Zone  
  
After using the supply ship to return to Mobius, the Freedom Fighters had the Kintobor Computer launch an extensive search for Shadow. No trace of the black hedgehog was found; Robotnik was also missing, and it was assumed that he had left ARK in one of its' escape pods.  
  
Somewhere in the Emerald Hill Zone, Knuckles was beginning the long trek back to the Emerald Coast.  
  
"It's time I got back to my island, and started tracking down those emeralds," he sighed wearily, dreading the thought of another prolonged search. The red echidna glanced over his shoulder at the girl behind him. "I suppose you'll be going back to treasure hunting."  
  
Rouge looked at him, smiling mysteriously.  
  
"Not exactly," the bat replied, eyes gleaming. "I think I'll be working on another little… project from now on."  
  
"Then I guess I'll see you around," Knuckles smirked back, a little nervously.  
  
"I 'guess' you will!" Rouge unfurled her wings, and took off into the night air. It was a clear night, and the moon- what was left of it- was almost full.  
  
The stars glowed brightly in the dark sky. In the Control Tower, Sonic the hedgehog stared out of an open window, his gaze fixed on those distant points of light.  
  
Although exhausted in mind and body, he was finding it impossible to sleep- even though he desperately wanted to. There were several things keeping him awake- not least of which was an old, familiar fear that had been rekindled. He had a new demon now, and its name was Hyper Sonic…  
  
'…the ring can only be used once…'  
  
This time, he was able to recall the entire battle, and had been in control. Next time would be different. And on top of that, Porker had said that the temporary weakness he was experiencing was a normal side effect of the transformation…  
  
But that wasn't what was on Sonic's mind right now.  
  
"I should've stopped him…" the blue hedgehog sighed, as his gaze shifted to take in the fragmented moon.  
  
He should have attempted to transport ARK by himself. He shouldn't have let Shadow sacrifice himself like that!  
  
"It's my fault," Sonic thought. "There must have been a way to save him. I've done it again. It's my fault, it should've been me!!"  
  
Sonic knew that feeling of guilt only too well…  
  
"Sonic?" said a voice behind him. He looked round briefly, to see Amy Rose enter his room.  
  
Amy observed the blue hedgehog staring forlornly into the darkness, and frowned. Sonic was recovering, his eyes were returning to their usual brilliant green- he would be back to normal in a few days, but was still in no condition to be on his feet. Judging by the way his left hand was gripping the window frame for support, she suspected he could barely stand.  
  
"Shouldn't you be taking it easy? You're still drained of energy," she gently advised him.  
  
"Amy? I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about Shadow…" Sonic replied.  
  
The pink hedgehog joined him by the window.  
  
"Was he really the Ultimate Life Form?" she wondered. Sonic shook his head and sighed, his eyes never leaving the moon's imperfect sphere.  
  
"I don't know… but the important thing is, he was a hero. And that's something I'll never forget." The hedgehog looked down, and covered the ring Shadow had given him with his hand. Then his head lifted, eyes flashing.  
  
No, he wouldn't forget. He would wear the control ring as a reminder of the black hedgehog's sacrifice; and would make sure it had not been in vain. Amy had told him of Shadow's vow to keep Mobius safe.  
  
Sonic knew it was up to him now.  
  
He would protect the people of his planet, and he would give them the chance to be happy.  
  
The blue hedgehog stared up at the moon, and the glowing point beside it that was the space colony ARK. For a moment, he pictured Shadow and Maria up there, together at last…  
  
"I promise…" Sonic whispered.  
  
~ The End…~  
  
* * * *  
  
Authors note- Well, I've finally finished this little epic. You'll notice I changed a few things… OK, a lot of things, from the game. For example I missed out some levels, and sort of merged the Cannon's Core and the Control Room into one place, for reasons of convenience… The President isn't in this fic because I didn't really like that idea in the game, and on top of that he doesn't fit too well into the STC universe. So he had to go. Gerald & Maria's surname is Kintobor, not Robotnik- again to fit in with the comic.  
  
I've added a 'new' character, Shade Phoenix- and if anyone hasn't figured out his true identity yet, shame on you! I dropped enough hints, didn't I?!  
  
As for Sonic & Shadow… well, that ability to sense Chaos energy is explained in a fanfic I wrote a very long time ago, I know it isn't in the game, but it seems to work. Also, as far as I'm concerned, those rocket boots Shadow has are just for show, and are nothing to do with his ability to skate… he uses Chaos energy for that. Shadow IS as fast as Sonic, and he doesn't need any help from some fancy trainers! So there!  
  
And yes, I know Maria didn't actually get shot in the game. That's a bit of, er, artistic license on my part. Heh heh…  
  
Speaking of which, why did I use Hyper instead of Super Sonic? My fault again- because, silly me, I went and separated Sonic & Super Sonic in an earlier fan comic. Oops. I re-designed Hyper Sonic, too… after all, Super Sonic looked different in Sonic 2 than in STC, didn't he?  
  
Finally… hands up who cried in the end?! Heh. Don't worry, Shadow will return…  
  
Special thanks go to Craig Bayfield, who suggested Shade Phoenix's new name… (it was originally Shadow Phoenix- until SA2 came out, that is…) And to Latifah 27, for colouring my next fan comic, and letting me do an AU of her 'May & December' fic. Now I just gotta write it… :)  
  
Thalia 'RockChick'  
  
ThaliaRockChick@aol.com  
  
http://www.crosswinds.net/~stc2/ 


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